Anthropic’s general counsel says AI could spell the end of the billable hour

Dimitar Dimitrov is a content and engagement coordinator at LawCareers.Net

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AI safety and research company Anthropic’s general counsel Jeff Bleich has predicted that AI will accelerate the decline of the traditional billable‑hour model, arguing that the cornerstone of legal billing no longer aligns with clients’ needs.

Speaking at the American Bar Association’s White Collar Crime Institute in San Diego on Thursday 12 March, Bleich said AI tools are eliminating the “tedious” tasks that have historically justified time‑based billing.

Bleich stated: “I don’t think the billable hour is the solution, and we’ve known it for a long time.”

The billable hour has long served as the dominant pricing structure for legal services, requiring lawyers to record time in small increments and invoice clients accordingly. But Bleich noted that the system “creates a wedge” between firms and clients: “Clients want you to solve the problem as efficiently as possible and with as little drama as possible. And if you're a company, the bigger the case gets, and the more dramatic it gets, and the more complicated it gets, and the more work that has to be done – the more lucrative it is."

Other panellists echoed Bleich’s comments. General counsel of insurer Liberty Mutual, Damon Hart, said that legal value is “no longer you putting in time,” but the results and strategy lawyers provide. Meanwhile, senior vice president and chief legal officer of technology innovator IBM, Anne Robinson, said she’s open to figuring out more creative billing methods.

While Bleich acknowledged the work of outside law firms, he stated: “You have to have an economic model that works. And the firms that adapt to that faster and better will be leapfrogging other firms, because they'll be more attractive to work with.”

Bleich’s comments come amid Anthropic’s lawsuit against federal agencies after the Trump administration, according to AOL, effectively blacklisted the AI company following failed contract negotiations with the Department of Defence. The company is represented by Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP (formerly Hale and Dorr), the firm once led by US lawyer Reginald Heber Smith, who is widely credited with introducing the billable hour more than a century ago.