It's a familiar pattern. A new client comes on board and the first few days are busy: introductions, ID checks, documents going back and forth, a call or two to set expectations. Then things go quiet.

Put yourself in your new client's shoes for a moment and follow the law firm client journey from their side. You get in touch and speak to someone on reception, or to the new business team. A day or two later, someone else runs your ID checks and sends over onboarding forms. Then a fee earner picks up your matter, often with a paralegal's help. Some weeks later, the accounts team sends the bill.

Here's a conversation that's happening in a lot of firms right now, usually without anyone saying it out loud.

Say a tool drafts something in ten minutes that would have taken a solicitor three hours. Happy days! Faster turnaround, a fee earner freed up for other work, a client pleased with the speed. And under the billable hour, that task now earns a fraction of the fee it used to.