AI Is Producing Recovered Time — But Most Firms Cannot Show What It Bought

Avaneesh Marwaha (CEO, Litera) published in Forbes on August 10 an argument that has direct implications for every BD director and managing partner with an AI budget: ROI ranked last in two distinct Litera surveys when firms assessed AI's benefits. The reason is structural, not cultural — a managing partner does not think primarily in cost terms; time is the singular currency of legal practice. But the deeper point is that time saved is a resource, not an outcome. Firms that are completing existing client work faster will secure the work clients already send. They will not persuade clients to assign more, or more significant, work unless they are converting those recovered hours into proactive engagement: reaching out before problems arise, identifying risks clients have not yet recognised, making themselves the first call in a crisis rather than the assignment after it. The article identifies three tracking disciplines BD teams should implement now: know where the recovered time is going and be able to articulate it; monitor whether clients are presenting more complex issues earlier, per client and per partner, year over year; and measure actual AI usage on real matters, not just access counts. Litera's survey found that once all competitors have access to the same AI models, the differentiators firms cite are people and talent first, then custom workflows and proprietary knowledge — the model itself is already a commodity. For BD directors, this reframes the AI investment conversation entirely: the measure is not cost reduction per hour but whether AI is producing a more trusted client relationship.