A&O Shearman announced a $1.1 billion, five-year AI commitment, and the interesting part is where the money comes from. Most of it is lawyer time: every practice must spend at least 3% of its hours building AI tools for its own area of law. The firm says 96% of its partners used its AI tools in September and that client uptake of its ContractMatrix products is up ninefold.
For legal departments, this law firm AI investment has a pricing line worth reading twice. The release talks up “novel pricing structures,” and global head of AI David Wakeling wants more “upfront client conversations about how the work, the relationship and the economics can evolve with AI.” That conversation belongs in your next panel review, and our managing outside counsel guide covers how to have it. We saw firms paying more for AI skills this week; in-house, the same skills are filling AI counsel jobs.
“The majority of this investment will come from each practice investing at least 3% of its time developing specialist AI tools and services within their area of law.”
Read: A&O Shearman accelerates AI strategy with a USD1.1 billion lawyer-led commitment at A&O Shearman