The wonderful Alexis Keenan of California’s Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) interviewed a few of us about how GenAI might affect the billable hour, and here’s what the article said: https://nancy-b-rapoport.com/nbr_blog/Big%20Law%20Stays%20Mum%20on%20Clients%27%20AI%20Efficiency%20Demands%2C%20But%20Tensions%20Are%20Already%20Seeping%20Through%20-%20CEB%20Articles.pdf. (You can also see it at https://research.ceb.com/posts/big-law-stays-mum-on-clients-ai-efficiency-demands-but-tensions-are-already-seeping-through if you register for an account.) I took the “think” statement from a story that Joe Tiano tells. Joe and I have been writing and thinking about GenAI for a long time.

The fact is that the billable hour never measured the value to the client. It measured time x rate, but not value. (And yes, Joe and I have written about that issue, too.) GenAI gives law firms a chance to come up with far better metrics to capture value. (Check out Hermes Law for a firm that has found a better way to capture value, and check out this article, written by Dwayne Hermes, Erica LaVarnway, and me.) Let’s see if BigLaw can come up with a creative and realistic way to capture the value that a firm provides to a client.