The most expensive sentence in business is ‘That’s how we have always done it’.
Firms should be continuously striving to learn why and how they might do things differently:
To help grow profits
To save the resources of time and money
To provide themselves with competitive advantage.
These are the three metrics senior personnel in firms are often measured on.
SO WHAT ABOUT AI?
The big debate just now, surrounds the adoption of AI tools into professional practice. The futurist Michael McQueen, recently described AI as a little like teenage sex. Everyone’s talking about it, not that many people are doing it. No one is doing it very well and there are a whole bunch of safety concerns!
That said, in just 12 short months, clients have gone from please don’t use AI, to “if you don’t use it, you may not get our work.”
Clients now know what’s possible. Once a client sees that something can be done in hours instead of days, they won’t go back to paying for the old model anytime soon.
The biggest challenge isn’t the technology itself, it’s the adjustment in how work is created and priced. I have heard only 30% of AI costs are the actual tools themselves and 70% is spent on change management initiatives.
The law is not about to disappear. The demand for judgment under uncertainty will not change, it may even grow. What is changing is how that judgment will be priced/valued.
AI WON’T REPLACE LAWYERS, BUT…
AI doesn’t solve your growth problem, it exposes whether you actually had a strategy in the first place. Because the risk isn’t that AI replaces lawyers. The risk is that other firms use it to become faster, cheaper and more valuable to clients and therefore take market share.
AI alters how professional work is done. It will not change why clients choose you. Trust is still built person to person. Judgment still matters. Relationships still win. And they always will. AI will level the technical playing field. Relationships will still decide who wins the work.
A firm that is faster and has more predictable pricing, delivers a better experience for clients and puts itself in a stronger position to win and retain business.
Where firms SHOULD focus going forward
A huge opportunity is greater participation in business development. Many firms still rely on a relatively small number of rainmakers to generate most of the work. Not every lawyer needs to become a rainmaker. But more lawyers will need to contribute to growth.
Another is within existing client relationships. If firms are getting faster, one of the more obvious opportunities is to become more responsive, more proactive and more useful to clients they already serve.
For many firms, growth will come not only from new clients but from doing more for the ones they already have. Do you have a Key Account Programme in place? Most firms do not.
If AI creates capacity, where should some of that time get redirected?
Client development. Industry immersion. Thought leadership. Learning more about clients’ businesses.
What will you do with that extra hour per day? That is the one question I am yet to hear answered on this topic.
The firms that handle this well will not just be more likely to be better at using AI tools. They will be better at using the capacity they create. And that is what is more likely to make them win more profitable work.
To discover how your fee earners might use their new found time, or to build your growth strategy, do get in touch.