Lawyers may soon charge $10,000 an hour thanks to AI, says LexisNexis CEO

[midian182]

WTF?! Generative AI is going to have a huge impact on the way we work. There are the bad elements, such as job losses and the environmental impact, and the good ones, like making tasks less monotonous and aiding R&D endeavors. For lawyers, the technology could enable them to push their already high billing rates to an astounding $10,000 per hour within a decade, according to one CEO.

Sean Fitzpatrick, CEO of US data analytics company LexisNexis, made the prediction during a panel discussion at Legalweek (via Business Insider).

Currently, senior partners at some of the United States' highest-grossing law firms charge close to $2,100 per hour for their services.

Fitzpatrick believes that lawyers will be able to further use AI for various elements of their work, such as faster case law retrieval, summarizing arguments, drafting and analyzing documents, and profiling judges or opposing counsel. It could also automate monotonous tasks, leaving lawyers more time to focus on important aspects of cases. As such, they could charge higher rates for a better quality of service.

Here's your itemized bill

The CEO said not only could lawyers using AI feel justified in billing their clients more, but it would also cut down their working time, letting them take on additional legal matters and produce more billing.

"It doesn't take that much inflation to get to the $10,000-per-hour billable hour," Fitzpatrick said. "I think there's a realistic scenario where we could absolutely see this."

Before lawyers start planning to buy (another?) yacht, there is the elephant in the room that needs to be addressed: AI hallucinations.

In February, a judge recommended that Indiana attorney Rafael Ramirez be fined $15,000 for including case citations in three separate briefs that had been fabricated by ChatGPT. Ramirez admitted to using generative AI but said he was unaware that it could generate fictitious case citations.

This was far from the only case of its kind. In June 2023, two lawyers and their law firm were fined $5,000 by a district judge in Manhattan for citing fake legal research generated by ChatGPT. And in January, lawyers in Wyoming submitted nine cases to support an argument in a lawsuit against Walmart and Jetson Electric Bikes over a fire allegedly caused by a hoverboard. Eight of the cases had been hallucinated by OpenAI's chatbot.

Perhaps lawyers should ensure they aren't breaking the law themselves when using AI before charging clients $10,000 per hour for their expertise.

Masthead: krakenimages

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Lawyers may soon charge $10,000 an hour thanks to AI, says LexisNexis CEO

 

[nitebird]

Economics, price is based on supply and demand. More supply, lower price.

 

[RF Match]

What did Shakespeare say again ????

 

[DanteSmith]

If AI is truly revolutionary, we should need fewer lawyers and judges, not more. Humans are inherently biased, and there’s no way to see exactly what they’re thinking. The simple fact that paying more for lawyers can change the outcome of a case shows that the current concept of justice is flawed.

 

[nnguy2]

What did Shakespeare say again ????

It was actually our 4th President, Abraham Lincoln, that said "never trust what you read on the internet"

 

[wiyosaya]

Yet another AI Doomsday story.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I think it's far more likely that more and more people will use the AI equivalent of "legal zoom" to represent themselves in court instead of dropping duckets on lawyers.

Large corpos will retain their own law firms/inhouse lawyers.

Its the independent law firms that are really gonna get squeezed and they're the ones that are going to have to figure out how to survive. Charging 10k ain't it chief.

 

[yannus]

"AI hallucinations" What a beautiful way of saying bullsh*t.

 

[FF222]

So, this analyst is apparently ignorant of the rules of supply and demand and the fact, that if AI is takes over the work of layers partially or completely, then that inevitably means that they will be able to charge LESS for their work, NOT MORE?

 

[axiomatic13]

LOL, I assure you that if I retain a lawyer, I will pick one that does not put me and my claim at risk with dodgy AI. Sadly, this will affect the poor who need litigation.

 

[SRB]

Freeing up their time to do more legal work? More like freeing up their time for longer happy hours and expensed junkets to resort areas. Do you really see any of these people working more and harder at 10K an hour?

 

[Vanderkaum037]

All these geniuses talking about supply and demand--lawyers are not a fungible commodity. Neither is the work they do. Not surprisingly this blog has a very tech-oriented mindset. Our world is run by lawyers. AI is helping them to be more productive, but there is no realistic future in which it ever "replaces" them.

 

[toooooot]

"AI hallucinations" What a beautiful way of saying bullsh*t.

I prefer machine errors.

 

[YouShallNotPass]

Sounds like a bait to get lawyers to welcome AI into the industry and eventually firing them all replacing with only AI.

 

[DanteSmith]

All these geniuses talking about supply and demand--lawyers are not a fungible commodity. Neither is the work they do. Not surprisingly this blog has a very tech-oriented mindset. Our world is run by lawyers. AI is helping them to be more productive, but there is no realistic future in which it ever "replaces" them.

You speak like a lawyer defending your own interests, but the world isn't run by lawyers—it's run by public and private administrators, bureaucrats, and those with money. The good news is, you're disposable, and even better, change is already underway.

Intelligent monitoring systems, biometrics, and the digitalization of processes help eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy in the judiciary, enhance the integrity of evidence, and even prevent cases from entering the justice system in the first place.

 

[WhiteLeaff]

All these geniuses talking about supply and demand--lawyers are not a fungible commodity. Neither is the work they do. Not surprisingly this blog has a very tech-oriented mindset. Our world is run by lawyers. AI is helping them to be more productive, but there is no realistic future in which it ever "replaces" them.

They are an unnecessary burden on society.

 

[Vanderkaum037]

You speak like a lawyer defending your own interests, but the world isn't run by lawyers—it's run by public and private administrators, bureaucrats, and those with money. The good news is, you're disposable, and even better, change is already underway.

Intelligent monitoring systems, biometrics, and the digitalization of processes help eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy in the judiciary, enhance the integrity of evidence, and even prevent cases from entering the justice system in the first place.

Those administrators, bureaucrats and people with money--mostly lawyers. We're on top of the heap and we didn't get here by playing fair I'll tell you that much. I laugh at "supply and demand."

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

If AI is truly revolutionary, we should need fewer lawyers and judges, not more. Humans are inherently biased, and there’s no way to see exactly what they’re thinking. The simple fact that paying more for lawyers can change the outcome of a case shows that the current concept of justice is flawed.

AI Lawyers and Judges also means by the book and put a stop to frivolous lawsuits.

 

[scoffer]

What did Shakespeare say again ????

Hmm...It probably wasn't " The only thing better than a d**d lawyer, is TWO d**d lawyers". But probably a similar sentiment......LOL......

 

[daffy duck]

Yet another AI Doomsday story.

Denial is a river in Egypt.

 

[OortCloud]

Is there any aspect of the US society that isn't totally fu**ked - what a sh1thole it's become. I can only imagine how bad it will be there 4 years from now...