AI pushes law firms to rethink hourly billing and junior training

AI is accelerating legal drafting and challenging charges based on time, while removing tasks on which junior lawyers traditionally learn. In interviews published by CNBC on October 10, industry figures explained why faster work demands changes to both pricing and professional training.

Clio’s UK & Ireland Legal Insights Report 2026 found that almost 90% of surveyed legal professionals in the United Kingdom and Ireland used AI. Among users, nearly 80% reported being able to handle more work and over 70% reported lower costs. These figures describe respondents’ experiences rather than an independently measured result for every law firm.

A&O Shearman has developed agents with Harvey for reviewing loan agreements and analysing regulatory documents. The firm says work previously taking hours can now be completed in minutes. Slaughter and May expanded Harvey across its practice areas this year, including regulatory research and document analysis.

Lexolent founder Nick Rowles-Davies argued that sharply reducing the time needed for standard documents makes traditional hourly charges harder to justify. Complex matters still require human judgment to assess AI output and choose a strategy for a client. He also pointed to sanctions imposed on lawyers who submitted court documents referring to nonexistent cases.

Around a fifth of firms that have widely adopted AI reported difficulty meeting billable-hour targets to Clio. In a separate global Deloitte survey, senior legal leaders expected the share of hourly-billed work to fall from 72% to 44% within two to three years. That is respondents’ expectation, rather than a sector-wide change already achieved.

Mansoor Soomro of Teesside University in Middlesbrough said document review, contract drafting and case research traditionally helped junior lawyers acquire foundational skills. Automating those tasks may remove learning opportunities. Jorge Bestard, Harvey’s EMEA head, stressed that obtaining a draft faster does not itself mean acquiring competence faster.

A&O Shearman legal talent chief Francesca Bennetts described growing emphasis on curiosity and entrepreneurship. The firm is developing career routes in legal engineering, product work and AI delivery. Soomro expects checking and challenging machine outputs, and connecting different areas of law to solve a client’s problem, to become particularly valuable.

Time savings do not yet guarantee less overtime. According to the Clio figures cited by CNBC, 51% of legal professionals work evenings, although only 32% want to. Weekend work involves 22%, compared with 11% who would choose that pattern. Clio’s Joshua Lenon said some lawyers were already reporting better working days. The wider effect will depend on how firms use the time released.