• Generative AI is transforming the legal industry, but attorneys say the billable hour is here to stay.
• Instead, they said the value of a lawyer's hour is likely to increase as AI tools help automate routine tasks.
• "You'll still see billable hours, but you'll see a reduction of those billable hours," said one attorney.Generative artificial intelligence is revolutionizing industries across many sectors, and the legal world is no different.
The AI boom has reignited the long-running debate over the potential death of billable hour — the standard method of payment in the legal profession.
And though AI-powered tools are expected to become widely adopted in the legal field in the coming years, industry experts told Business Insider that the use of the rapidly advancing technology won’t kill off the billable hour payment model, but rather reinvent it.
