Law Subscribed

I reflect on over four years of podcasting about the business of law and subscription billing for legal services. How do I do this? By using AI, of course! Since episode 100 I’ve covered topics like the death of the billable hour, generative AI in legal practice, niche subscription practice areas, and pricing philosophy. I also share new updates on Practi, new integrations and partnerships on the...

I’m announcing the launch of the Practi Podcast Network, which will feature multiple shows covering why billing time sucks, AI’s impact on billable hours, experts and technology for law firms, and attorneys leaving BigLaw and In-House to start their own firms. If you are a billing convert (or want to be), a legal tech expert or law firm service provider, or a lawyers considering striking out on th...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * AI is shrinking BigLaw’s workforce needs as firms that once needed a thousand lawyers can operate with far fewer, pushing displaced attorneys to start their own AI-native firms and serve the previously unmet “latent legal market.” * Subscriptions and flat fees solve...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * AI is not a search engine. Many lawyers still treat AI like Google, which completely misses its collaborative potential and underwhelms them, like driving a Maserati like a Datsun. * The billable hour cannot survive AI efficiency. Clients already know AI can speed up...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * AI compresses the time for legal work but the billable hour penalizes that efficiency, meaning lawyers who adopt AI tools earn less for delivering the same or better results faster. * The billable hour model creates a misalignment of incentives between attorney and c...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * Bill Price’s ALSP, Subscription GC, charges a flat monthly fee that is cheaper than big law but still premium, aligning incentives around getting things done rather than billing for time. * By handling repetitive, administrative tasks, AI lets lawyers move up the str...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * AI augments rather than replaces lawyers by handling repetitive document review and data extraction, freeing attorneys to focus on higher-value work that clients actually want to pay for. * Proprietary data is the key moat for legal tech companies because unlocking a...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * The billable hour was introduced by the insurance industry in the late 1960s and early 1970s, replacing the value-based and flat fee model lawyers had used for over a thousand years, and it created perverse incentives that harm lawyers, clients, and the profession. *...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * Tom Martin’s LawDroid is developing pre-emptive techniques through its Spectral Mind R&D lab to eliminate hallucinations before they reach the user, building on the success of CiteCheck AI which has already verified over 15,000 citations. * Tom’s upcoming book argues...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * You can go live on LinkedIn through Zoom by connecting a custom stream URL, but you must wait 30 to 40 seconds for the LinkedIn lag before clicking “Go Live” and switch to gallery mode first if you want to control your thumbnail. * AI is collapsing the time it takes...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * Natalie Thomas chose a trade name (The Legal Joint) instead of her personal name so the firm could eventually be sold or run independently without being tied to her identity. * She offers tiered flat-fee pricing with three levels (navigator for DIY, co-pilot for guid...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * Subscription billing aligns attorney and client incentives by rewarding ongoing value and proactive problem avoidance instead of penalizing efficiency the way the billable hour does. * Recurring fixed fees give law firms predictable revenue and smoother cash flow whi...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * Being a great lawyer doesn’t automatically attract clients; law firms need strong marketing to bring in the right clients, not just more clients. * Recurring subscription revenue benefits both the law firm and its clients by enabling long-term planning, consistent se...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * Subject matter expertise remains essential because AI only works as well as the knowledge and curation you bring to it. * Gemini Notebook (formerly known as NotebookLM) lets you build curated knowledge tools by loading specific, vetted sources and generating audio ov...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * Unexpected setbacks can accelerate your path. Drédeir didn’t pass the bar on the first try, took a contracts manager role to pay the bills, and ended up being offered a GC position at a national company before many peers had even started at a firm. * In-house experie...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * Gemini Notebook (formerly, Notebook LM) is the standout tool . The speaker calls it “the best value in Google Workspace.” It uses retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to answer questions only from sources you provide, making it ideal for analyzing contracts, running...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * Big Law wasn’t the right fit and he knew it early. After starting at Kirkland & Ellis, Ryan realized around the three-year mark that the big law “escalator” didn’t align with the life he wanted. Working 2,500 hours a year on private equity deals with no real meaning,...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * Treat AI like a brilliant entry-level employee . AI tools are incredibly knowledgeable (having “read everything on the internet”), but they work best when given clear context, iterated on, and never blindly trusted as a source of truth. Think of each new conversation...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * AI is reshaping the legal industry across all levels . From law schools mandating AI courses to federal judges using AI tools, adoption is broad and not limited to younger generations. Jon expected a generational divide but found AI enthusiasm cuts across all age gro...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * Human intelligence still matters : AI raises the floor for everyone, but curation, taste, and expertise are the irreplaceable human skills that will differentiate you in an AI-saturated world. * Don’t accept default output : Iterating with AI tools, going back and fo...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * The billable hour damages client relationships. Stuart’s core message is that charging by the hour makes clients afraid to pick up the phone, meaning they only call when things have already gone wrong, making prevention impossible and the relationship transactional....

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * Perplexity Enterprise is a cost-effective, secure AI hub for lawyers. At $400/year, it provides SOC 2, HIPAA, and GDPR compliance while giving access to multiple top AI models without needing separate subscriptions to ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. * The Comet Browser u...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * Subscription model beats fee-splitting for attorney networks. Overture transitioned from taking a fee split on referrals to a $49/month membership, giving attorneys more of the pie, more flexibility, and removing financial friction from sharing work. * The platform’s...

Sign up for Practi , a new platform that helps law firms use subscription billing. Here are the top 5 takeaways from this episode: * Not using AI may soon be malpractice. Marc raised this argument as early as May 2023 in CLEs for the Beverly Hills Bar Association that lawyers who fail to leverage AI tools may be falling below the professional standard of competence required under ethics rules. * H...

My Legal Academy invited me to talk about the ethics of AI alongside Lucian Pera and moderated by Michael Smith. I’ll demonstrate my personal AI workflows and how I ensure compliance with Model Rules 1.1 and 1.5 using enterprise-grade tools. Stay tuned for more announcements on LinkedIn as we launch our new Practi podcast network! Here’s the link to register for The Lawyer’s Guide to AI Compliance...