As A.I. Makes Law Firms More Efficient, Clients Ask: Wheres My Discount?

Outsiders often cite law as an industry under threat from artificial intelligence.But the nation’s biggest firms are eager to show off how they’ve embraced the technology.After OpenAI announced a version of its latest A.I.

model for lawyers last week, for example, a handful of top-tier firms proudly unveiled new tools.Sullivan & Cromwell introduced “Agreement Analyzer” to help review deals; Cooley brought out “Go Public,” a tool for the S-1 drafting process that precedes an initial public offering; and Ropes & Gray said it was developing an A.I.tool that could “produce a detailed, issue-level diligence report in hours, not weeks.”That followed a flood of A.I.

news in the legal world.In the past year, Google and Anthropic have also released A.I.

tools for lawyers, law firms have begun hiring chief A.I.officers and industry giants like Kirkland & Ellis have announced big investments in the creation of their own A.I.

systems.For most businesses, a mounting perception of A.I.prowess would be a clear-cut boon.

But in an industry that bills by the hour, it has ruffled some feathers.When, clients want to know, is that A.I.efficiency going to lead to lower legal bills?“You’re getting to the point where clients are saying, ‘That’s great that you’re using A.I.

and it’s making you faster, it’s making you more efficient,’” Neill Jakobe, the vice chairman of Ropes & Gray, told DealBook.But, he said, they want to know, “What does that mean for us?”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....