Global LegalTech Talks: Beyond the Billable Hour: AI and the Future of Legal Services

For more than a century, the billable hour has been the cornerstone of how legal services are scoped, priced, and justified. Yet the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence and advanced legal technologies is fundamentally challenging the premise that legal value should be measured primarily through elapsed human time. As automation, analytics and AI-driven workflows redefine productivity, clients are increasingly questioning the logic of time based charging models. At the same time, law firms and in-house legal teams face a growing strategic tension: how to preserve profitability, manage risk, and demonstrate value when efficiency no longer correlates neatly with revenue. This session will examine whether the billable hour can be meaningfully adapted for an AI-enabled legal economy, or whether the profession is approaching a more profound commercial and structural realignment. Drawing on perspectives from private practice, in-house leadership and legal market commentators, the discussion will explore how AI is reshaping long held assumptions around value, expertise, accountability and the role of legal professionals. Designed for managing partners, practice leads, general counsel and senior legal operations leaders, this panel will move beyond theory to consider the practical, commercial and governance implications of new delivery and pricing models in the UK and beyond. Key Discussion Points Whether time-based billing remains economically and ethically defensible in an era of AI-driven efficiency Where clients are already rejecting the billable hour, and what is driving that behaviour Why alternative fee arrangements often struggle to scale beyond controlled pilots The commercial, pricing, data & advisory capabilities firms must develop to compete effectively Whether firms should seek to evolve the existing model, or actively plan for its replacement.