AI will never kill lawyers’ hourly billing. Here's what will happen instead ⏰

Ethan Williams had a very insightful post into the future of legal pricing and the impact of AI on lawyers and consultants.

There is no doubt, that professional services in general made most of their money by dramatically inflating hourly billing for the most junior employees (it's worth it for corps, given the legal risks out there).

Bottom line:
Time and Materials (T&M) pricing won't disappear in consulting. Instead, we'll see a hybrid model emerge.

Here's how I believe their new pricing model will work:

1. Project-based fees → Cover everything AI can now handle as a paralegal copilot

2. Outcomes-based fees → Already standard for personal injury and other case types, so not a big stretch

3. Hourly billing → Reserved for what AI can't do: working with judges, strategizing, convincing juries, being the CYA in tough client discussions

The Bigger Challenge:
Attorneys are smart. They'll figure this out by leaning into the AI gaps – the uniquely human elements that drive the highest value.

But here's the bigger challenge they'll face: once this shift happens, they'll need to completely reimagine their training and apprenticeship model for building the next generation of partners.

That's a far more complex problem to solve than just adjusting billing structures.

What's your take? Are you seeing similar hybrid pricing models emerge in your industry? hashtag#legalpricing hashtag#valuepricing HG Partners