What changes
Much of the time on a typical matter goes on work AI can now do well: first drafts from precedents, reading and summarising documents, comparing versions, chasing information and writing routine updates. In the New Model, AI takes that work, and the solicitor does what the client is really paying for: understanding the situation, making the judgement calls, explaining the options and standing behind the result.
This is also where the firm’s lead offer takes shape: the accountable signature. Clients are starting to arrive with contracts, wills, letters and agreements an AI drafted for them. Instead of starting again from scratch, offer a fixed-fee service to check the document, correct it, explain the changes and stand behind the final version under the firm’s name. Your own AI review process makes it quick to deliver. Your regulation, your professional indemnity insurance and your accountability make it worth paying for.
Why it matters now
If the firm keeps billing hours for drafting that clients know an AI can do, clients will do more of it themselves and come to you only when it goes wrong. A clear, fixed-fee check gives them a reason to come to you first. Set the scope carefully. The engagement letter should say which document is covered, on what facts and assumptions, and what is excluded, so the firm stands behind a defined piece of work.
Checklist
- Pick three high-volume document types, such as simple wills, commercial leases or employment contracts, and map every step. Mark which steps AI can do and which need a solicitor.
- Build an AI-assisted review checklist for each type, covering the points a supervising solicitor would always check, and test it on ten closed matters.
- Launch a fixed-fee check and stand-behind service for one document type, with a scoped engagement letter and a set turnaround time.
- Tell your professional indemnity insurer about the new service and confirm the cover and any conditions in writing before the first client instructs you.
- Record time per matter before and after the change, so you know the real cost of delivery when you set prices in Move 5.
Illustrative example
Three founders bring their AI-drafted shareholders’ agreement to a firm. It offers a fixed fee of £750 plus VAT to review it, correct it and issue a short letter confirming the agreement is fit for purpose on the facts given. The AI review against the firm’s checklist takes 20 minutes. The solicitor spends 90 minutes working through the flagged issues, fixing a drag-along clause and adding a missing deadlock provision, then 30 minutes on a call with the founders. That’s 2 hours 20 minutes in total, or just over £320 an hour. Drafting from scratch would have taken around six hours at £250 an hour, or £1,500, which the founders had already decided not to pay. The firm earns £750 from work that would otherwise have gone to no one.
Common mistakes
- Pricing the check by the hour. The value is the signature and the accountability, and the fixed price should reflect that, with a clear scope.
- Letting AI output reach clients unchecked. Every document the firm issues needs a named solicitor’s review, whatever produced the first draft.
- Accepting an open-ended scope. Say in writing what you’ve reviewed, what you relied on and what you haven’t looked at.
Coaching your clients
Many clients now use AI for their own contracts, policies and letters. Help them do it well. Give business clients a short guide on which documents they can safely start with AI, which need a solicitor from the outset, and what to send you when they want a check. Clients who learn where AI helps and where it’s risky come back to you at the right moment, instead of after something has already gone wrong.