At least according to this survey, law firm pricing isn’t keeping up with the changes that AI is creating in service delivery. Sigh.

In her post here (AI is changing legal delivery – but law firm pricing isn’t keeping up) Caroline Hill on Legal IT Insider covers the 2026 BigHand Legal Pricing and Budgeting Trends Analysis, based on responses from more than 800 senior legal finance professionals across the UK and North America. Their survey found that 63% of firms rely on familiar approaches when pricing matters.

Here are some other notable results:

• 35% of respondents said lawyers most commonly default to standard hourly rates
• 28% copy pricing from a previous matter without adjusting it
• 1% reported using pre-made templates within an existing pricing or budgeting tool
• 56% of firms reported increased client demand for AI-driven efficiencies or greater transparency around AI use
• 35% said partner discomfort discussing AI with clients is the most common barrier to proactive conversations about the technology
• Roughly 30% of firms are maintaining existing pricing and using AI efficiencies to improve profitability, while another 30% are still evaluating how those efficiencies should affect future pricing
• 25% said they offer discounts when clients permit the use of AI
• 31% reported improved profitability per matter as a benefit of AI
• 31% reported reduced reliance on manual or repetitive work

You can download the full report here. If 60% of respondents are either maintaining existing pricing and using AI efficiencies to improve profitability or evaluating how those efficiencies should affect future pricing, that means that they’re not passing savings along to the client. It’s up to their clients to hold them accountable.

So, what do you think? Are you surprised that law firm pricing isn’t keeping up with the changes that AI is creating in service delivery? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Hat tip to Jeff Brandt for the heads up on this article (and collecting the stats as well). 😊

Image created using ChatGPT, using the term “robot lawyer chasing a running dollar bill”.

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