Curtis Lawyers Featured in Business Insider Article, ‘AI won't kill the billable hour in the legal world — it'll just reinvent it.’

Curtis was featured in Business Insider this week, highlighting that AI tools are expected to transform, but not eliminate, the billable hour model in the legal field. While AI may reduce the number of billable hours by automating routine tasks, it could increase the value of each hour a lawyer works. Business Insider spoke to Curtis attorneys, Partners Elisa Botero, Michel Paradis, and Juan Perla to ask about billable hours and the future of AI in the legal space.

"The real value that lawyers provide, whether or not that's strategic advice, whether or not it's the actual drafting of arguments, whether or not it's the arguing in court to jurors or to judges in courtrooms, or to the making of deals and negotiating terms — all those sorts of things — I think you're going to see an increasing premium on," said Partner Michel Paradis.

Mr. Paradis, who specializes in AI-related legal work, said he doesn't believe there will ever be a "complete disappearance" of the billable hour in the law profession.

"What I think you're likely to see is a slow disappearance of the filler billable hours" that a slew of law firms depend on, Mr. Paradis said.

The same way that the introduction of word processors dramatically shifted the way law firms operated in the late 20th century, Paradis said he foresees the same thing happening with AI. "AI is going to have a similar effect to the rise of information technology in the legal field," said Mr. Paradis, "and that is a consistent gobbling up of the bottom of the legal market."

Partner Juan Perla said that the firm is in the midst of developing an internal AI policy and expects to have certain AI tools integrated into the practice within months.

Partner Elisa Botero, another partner at the New York-headquartered firm, agreed, saying that the billable hour model will remain a "key metric" for at least the foreseeable future even as more law firms move to utilize AI tools to boost the efficiency of their practices.

"But what type of work will be billed out will shift and is already shifting," said Ms. Botero, explaining that more traditional, associate-type work or junior-level work will be most impacted by the use of AI.

"You'll still see billable hours, but you'll see a reduction of those billable hours for that type of routine legal work that can be automated" with AI tools, Ms. Botero said.

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