Show me the value: Why AI must prove itself in the business of law says sa.global
This article explores the growing pressure for AI to deliver measurable ROI in law firms. It discusses how firms can move beyond hype by aligning AI initiatives with clear business outcomes—improving client service, increasing profitability, and demonstrating value across the legal lifecycle.
Series note: In my last post I laid out six hard truths I keep hearing from UK law-firm leaders about technology and AI. This piece picks up and focuses on the first theme: clients now expect visible AI value, and leadership needs a credible way to prove it.
Over the past few months, I have been in steady conversations with managing partners, COOs, CFOs and technology heads across mid and large firms. One pattern is constant. Buyers are no longer asking what tools you have. They are asking what difference those tools make to their experience and their firms’ operations. Inside the firm, the same question applies to profit, cash, and risk. That is why the most successful programs are reframing AI as a business initiative measured against leadership KPIs, and not as a technology project.
Why clients now insist on visible AI value
Legal teams want speed, predictability, and fewer billing surprises. If AI cannot move the needle, it is a distraction. The winning story is simple and credible. Faster intake to matter opening. Cleaner WIP with fewer write-offs. Smoother billing and collections. When a firm can show a short chain of improvements that a client actually feels, the conversation moves from tools to trust.
Why many firms struggle to prove it
Three issues come up repeatedly. First, tool sprawl creates noise without a single view of impact. Second, there is often no baseline, so gains are hard to evidence. Third, finance leaders are being asked to sign off sizeable licenses without a clear pay-back window. In that context, a list of features is not enough. Leaders need a line of sight from change on the ground to movement in realization, margin and cash.
The case for a value stream map
A value stream map is the fastest way I know to anchor AI in firm economics. It is not an IT diagram. It is a board-level lens on the journey from enquiry to cash, focused on the levers that drive profitability. As part of this approach, we help map your firm’s business process flow across intake and risk, scoping and pricing, resourcing and utilization, time capture and leakage, WIP and pre-bill collaboration, billing and policy checks, AR and collections, and working capital. Then we link each step to the measures and KPIs that you as leaders already manage.Used this way, the map answers two questions that matter. Where can we unlock value across the firm. How will we prove it in terms the board and the client will both recognize.Keep the scorecard short and financial.
- Realization
Are captured hours and pricing discipline turning effort into revenue?. - Leakage and write-offs
Are we preventing avoidable reductions before the bill goes out?. - Cycle times that clients feel
Intake to matter open. WIP to bill. Bill to cash. - Utilization and recovery
Are we matching people to work and recovering at planned rates? - Cash conversion
Aged debt, dispute reasons and days sales outstanding.
These are not new metrics. The shift is to make them the explicit test for AI.
Principles that separate leaders from the pack
- Start with why, not what
- Pick two or three areas where improvement is visible to clients and impact the P&L. Prove those first.
- Baseline, then show the delta
- Four to six weeks of baseline is enough. Then publish a single page that shows before and after with dates, sources and any assumptions.
- Co-own with Finance
- Treat this as a business initiative with clear ownership in Finance and the relevant practice. IT is a partner, not the sponsor.
- Prioritize readiness and time to value
- Go where value can land inside one budgeting cycle. Avoid the proof-of-concept treadmill.
- Tie outcomes to pricing strategy
- If efficiency rises, retain a fair share of the benefit through pricing discipline rather than handing all gains back.
- Make adoption easy
- Surface guidance and metrics in the tools people already use each day so change becomes part of the workflow, not another task.
A closing thought and an open invitation
AI earns its keep when it makes the business of law faster, more predictable and more profitable. The value stream map helps you prove that in the language of the board and your clients. If you would like to see how this could apply to your firm, I am happy to compare notes, share templates and walk through examples.When you are ready, we can also explore how sa.global’s Microsoft Industry Cloud for Law Firms, with evergreen and empower, brings these measures to life inside your Microsoft tenant. Drop me a note or connect with me on LinkedIn and we can take it from there.
