Law Practice Management Blog

One of the more solid pieces of advice I’ve come up with over the course of my consulting practice has been to advise attorneys that they should never buy a new software until they check whether one of their existing tools does not already include the feature.

It might be that artificial intelligence is finally what kills the billable hour, or at least maims it. The billable hour is the seemingly immortal cockroach of the legal industry.  Apparently, lawyers and clients both hate it – but here it still is: prevailing.

Artificial intelligence tools are great for collating information – including information about the people and things you want to get to know better.

Most attorneys are a little old school – and that’s not a bad thing.  So I think it’s safe to say that most law firm workflows require some level of human touch and aren’t totally automated

Claude connectors allow Claude to access your data from software tools you use, and also allows for Claude to take actions in those products.  A plug-in is effectively a curated bundle that features connectors, skills and commands meant to allow Claude to act out a specific role or workflow.

There are loads of artificial intelligence tools available to professionals.  Even lawyers, frequently late adopters of technology, are aggressively utilizing AI.  But different AI models are better at different things – even when they exist on the same platform. 

I’m constantly asked by attorneys which sorts of artificial intelligence tools they should be applying to which use cases. But I’m probably asked just as regularly about how to vet AI tools based on state and federal laws and attorney ethics rules. And that’s fair because it’s certainly a daunting question. 

You don’t have to look elsewhere for AI tools. Start with your productivity software. You already use it to store loads of confidential data about your clients.  You send emails through it.  You draft documents in it.  You store files within it.  And yet, you’re probably only utilizing AI in associated GPT products, like Microsoft CoPilot or Google Gemini.

The elephant in the room posits the following question: If attorneys are getting more efficient using AI, doesn’t that mean that there are fewer hours for lawyers to bill?

Oftentimes, the search for new revenue from new sources becomes sort of like stepping over a quarter to pick up a dime. 

For many law firms, just getting one website across the finish line is a monumental accomplishment – which is not untrue, by the way.  Getting over that single hurdle, however, is usually how it starts – and, how it ends.

Just when you had begun to master (too strong?) SEO – here comes AEO. Now the question of the moment becomes: How do I get found in generative AI queries?

If your law firm has a policies and procedures manual – and, that’s probably a big ‘if’ – it’s likely filled with very much policy and very little procedure. 

If you’re running paid ads, you’ll want to know how many people engage them and then stack the other questions on top of that.  That’s all good.  Those are things you should be tracking. And you’ll want to be using the right tools to do that, including a CRM.

If your employees are not happy with their existing compensation package, they’ll find greener pastures without blinking an eye.

Everybody knows you’ve got to get reviews for your business in order to increase client conversion. Though the power of reviews may be diminishing in the new world of ‘answer engine optimization’.  Even so, good reviews remain relevant trust marks for legal consumers when they’re trying to choose which law firms to contact and select.

If you can acquire your clients’ debit or credit card or ACH information, and store it in a secure ‘vault’ (which many softwares offer), you will be able to take payments for work done from clients directly – without the traditional request – simply by clicking a button.

New tools or revised programs like WiseTime or BillablesAI incorporate artificial intelligence to assist in not just traditional time tracking but also activity identification and labeling, as well as reporting.

There are plenty of solo and small firm lawyers out there with a waning desire to manage a business – they’d rather take a paycheck, potentially with some upside, to work for someone else.

You may have already noticed that more of your law firm clients are starting to find you via AI search overviews, or directly through generative AI products.  That’s going to be happening more and more.