After three years of promises about AI’s potential to transform the practice of law, a frenzy of investment into legal technology, and widespread speculation about where AI will drive the most value, most law firms have had their fill of splashy product demos and new proofs of concept. They want to know what they will get in return for their investments in AI. That means more than just baseline efficiency improvements and cost-savings. They want to understand how AI will help them grow.
Now, we’ve got the answer – by the numbers. Thomson Reuters recently commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impact™ study to examine the potential return on investment (ROI)law firms can realize by deploying CoCounsel Legal, our AI solution, which brings together legal research, essential workflow automation, intelligent document search and AI-powered legal assistance in a single platform.
Real-World Scenarios, Concrete Results
To produce the analysis, researchers conducted detailed interviews with senior law firm decision-makers who’ve been using CoCounsel Legal for the past several months to understand exactly how they are working with AI inside their firms, what the real-world impacts have been on their business, and the bottom-line costs and benefits linked to their investments in AI. The results of those interviews were then combined to create a single composite organization – a multi-practice law firm with 500 attorneys – and financial impacts were extrapolated over a three-year period.
The research puts some hard numbers behind a value proposition that, until now, has been hard to quantify. It answers the critical question: How exactly are AI-driven efficiency gains creating new growth opportunities for law firms?
Following are some of the key findings for the composite organization:
- Return on investment: 400%
The headline finding of the analysis is that the total ROI of the composite law firm investment in CoCounsel was 400%, meaning the return after three years, minus costs involved with acquiring the technology, onboarding, and training staff, is five times greater than the initial investment. In this example, that translates to a total of $22.8 million in total value over three years. - Incremental revenue from increased matter capacity: $20.3 million
Contrary to much of the recent rhetoric around professional AI adoption, the lion’s share of that value does not come from reduced headcount or productivity gains. While those are factors, the real value CoCounsel Legal delivers is the ability to take on a greater number of matters concurrently by reducing the time required for research, document review, and matter ramp-up. As a result, the composite organization increased attorney matter capacity by 25% without adding headcount, allowing the firm to accept additional work from existing clients and pursue new matters. - Productivity gains within core legal workflows: $1.7M
Productivity, of course, is improved with AI, but the interesting finding in the Forrester analysis is that those productivity gains are concentrated in specific law firm workflows. Based on the analysis, attorneys spend less time on repetitive, low-value tasks such as document review, legal research, and drafting, which means CoCounsel is reducing nonbillable time and lowering write-downs on existing matters.
In addition to the quantitative benefits, the research also found several qualitative examples where incorporating CoCounsel into day-to-day tasks helped to improve both the quality of work and quality of life for the firms’ attorneys, such as the following:
- Improved quality and consistency of legal work product
Attorneys reported that AI-generated summaries, research, and drafts are more reliable and thorough than traditional manual approaches, boosting confidence in the work product, cutting down on partner oversight, and reducing the chance that critical facts or arguments slip through the cracks. - Greater focus on high-value legal judgment and client strategy
By reducing time spent searching for information and compiling relevant case law, CoCounsel Legal allows attorneys to devote more effort to strategic analysis, advocacy, and client advisory work, enhancing perceived client value. - Improved attorney experience and reduced burnout
The fact that CoCounsel Legal allows attorneys to complete lower-value, repetitive tasks more quickly, while freeing up time to focus on more strategic work, improves day-to-day attorney experience and work-life balance, particularly for junior attorneys handling document-heavy matters.
Reclaiming the Work That Matters in Law
While the intent of the analysis was to deliver a definitive, by-the-numbers calculation of what kind of financial return law firms can expect from their investments in AI, the results revealed much more detail about the role AI is already playing in law firms, today. Importantly, it shines a spotlight on the fact that AI is having an accretive effect on the firms that have embraced it. Put simply, it is helping firms do more work better, ultimately helping them create more capacity and new opportunities for growth.
That’s a fundamental shift from the mainstream narrative on AI, which has often been cast as a productivity and cost-reduction tool. That’s really only a small part of the story. When the right AI tools are deployed effectively, they are removing points of friction and helping attorneys reclaim the work that matters. Importantly, they are also creating significant new growth channels along the way.
Click here to read the full analysis.
