This week, I had a long conversation with a start-up lawyer I’ve known for almost a decade. We talked about what’s new and what we’re thinking about for 2026. He shared that he thinks AI is decimating the legal profession. Clients are using AI tools to handle more legal work, and much of what those tools generate is of good enough quality to accomplish their goals. Side note: I know of a company that used ChatGPT to generate all its legal documents when it made an offer to acquire another company, and the deal closed. They saved probably $50,000 in legal fees.

He shared with me that clients are hesitant to use him as much as they’d like because of the several hundred dollars per hour he charges. Anytime they call for something small, they know the meter is running and they’ll get a bill. So they’re using ChatGPT and other tools for small things. As they use those tools, they’re realizing the output is good enough to meet a lot of their legal needs. They’ve become more comfortable using AI as their first go-to for legal, which means they’re reaching out to their lawyers less and less.

So, what’s this lawyer going to do? He’s changing his pricing model and service offering in 2026. He plans to offer clients the option to pay a flat monthly subscription fee so they can reach out as needed without being billed hourly. As part of this service, he’ll teach his clients how to set up AI to better meet specific legal needs. His thought is that if he makes it easier for clients to use him, they’ll engage him more. And by showing them how to use AI for legal, he becomes a trusted advisor.

I wasn’t expecting to hear this from him, but it made a lot of sense. I never built legal costs into my company’s budget because the number of hours we’d use in a year varied wildly, making it hard to predict. So when we did need legal advice, I always tried to limit the scope to avoid blowing our budget. If I could have paid a flat monthly fee, I probably would have, because that would have made it easy to add legal as a line item in my budget. If I’d had that option, I definitely would have engaged our lawyer more frequently.

It's interesting to hear from someone boots on the ground how big an impact AI is having on the legal profession. I’m curious to learn how his clients respond to his pricing model change and whether the legal profession becomes more creative as AI becomes a larger part of clients’ daily workflow.