A draft that takes seconds to produce can still be expensive to use. Someone has to prepare the material, check the answer and correct it. The cost question is what happens to the complete job.
For a law firm considering AI, I would start with a task the team already does and establish what it costs now. That gives the firm a basis for testing the software and deciding whether to pay for it.
Look for repeated effort
Consider the work between receiving information and using it: putting correspondence in order, extracting details into a draft, preparing routine updates or entering the same information in more than one system. These are places to investigate, not a promise that every task should be handed to AI.
Ask someone to show you how the task is done. A delay may come from a missing document or an awkward handover. Fixing that could help before any new software is introduced. Some steps are better handled by conventional automation, such as moving information between agreed fields.
Count checking time
Suppose, in a fictional test, a manual task takes 60 minutes. The AI-assisted version takes 10 minutes to prepare, five to generate and transfer the draft, and 30 to check and correct. The saving is 15 minutes. Reporting the five-minute draft as the result would give a misleading picture.
Keep the comparison fair. Use work of similar difficulty, apply the same standard of review and record corrections. For a chronology, check the dates and events against the sources. For a summary, look for omitted qualifications as well as wrong statements. A well-formatted answer can still take considerable time to fix.
Be precise about the saving
Giving a fee earner time back may allow more work to be handled or make the workload more manageable. That is additional capacity. It does not automatically put cash in the firm’s bank account.
A reduction in spending needs a corresponding change in cost: an avoidable processing charge, for example, or an overlapping software subscription that can be removed. Keep those figures separate from estimates of the value of staff time. The distinction helps you judge a proposal without overstating it.
Check what you already pay for
Review existing licences before buying another product. Establish which features are available, which the firm uses and whether any tools cover the same work. An unused feature may need configuration and training rather than another subscription.
For a new service, ask about minimum user numbers, processing limits and charges for integrations. Include setup, ongoing support and the time spent administering another system. The cheapest headline price may not produce the lowest cost for the firm.
Test the figures before expanding
Run a small trial with suitable material and record the number of tasks completed, total time per task and quality problems. Ask the users what made the job easier and what added work. Their experience can explain a disappointing result that the timing figures alone cannot.
Compare the expected benefit over a stated period with the initial and recurring costs. Label assumptions, such as how often the task will occur. If the trial does not support the purchase, you have learnt that before committing to a wider rollout.
Talk to me about a task you want to improve. My team and I can assess the cost, test suitable tools and carry the project through implementation and training.