In recent years, in-house legal counsel have been increasingly implementing strict and often intricate “billing guidelines” for outside counsel. These guidelines, often comprehensive and complex, are designed to help clients maintain control over legal spend, but many observe it as merely another layer of administrative red tape that delays payments. With a growing burden of these billing specifications, major law firms find themselves adjusting their rates just to offset the overheads linked to this growing annoyance.
This is one area where artificial intelligence (AI) could make a significant difference. ZERO, a company specializing in the automation of non-billable legal tasks, proposes using AI to handle the industry’s billing issues. As per CEO Alex Babin, implementing AI could potentially recover millions for law firms struggling with complex billing guideline compliance, given the massive amounts of money lawyers lose performing non-billable tasks.
ZERO offers a product called Verify, which uses four AI models to interpret billing guidelines and the associated history of bill rejections and appeals. The aim is to determine what adaptations are necessary to ensure the bills are paid promptly with minimal hassle. A particular feature of this product is tailoring narratives to match the attorney’s voice, based on past preference and language use, thereby personalizing the approach to billing and its associated communication
This solution, according to Babin, is not limited to Biglaw billing and can be applied to any policy compliance task. He suggests it could be particularly beneficial for Biglaw attorneys aiming to significantly shorten collection cycles without increasing overheads.
Though AI may not resolve every legal industry problem, advancements like these show it can play a crucial role in addressing some of the sector’s administrative pain points. Law firm’s grappling with arcane billing guidelines may find hope—and relief—in AI technologies like these.
Read the full article on Above the Law here.