Deloitte Legal: 85% of Legal Leaders Believe AI Will Change Law Firm Pricing — Hourly Work to Fall from 72% to 44%

Deloitte Legal's "The AI Imperative: Reshaping of the Legal Industry" report (121 senior legal leaders worldwide, April–May 2026, published July 9) found that 85% of legal leaders believe AI will change how law firms' pricing works, with hourly-rate work expected to fall from 72% today to 44% within two to three years. Currently, 61% of legal departments are in AI deployment phases; 61% are already experimenting with or piloting agentic AI; AI investment increased year-on-year at 79% of legal departments, with budgets rising 67% on average among those increasing spend. The structural demand signal: 78% of legal leaders identify cost reduction as the leading benefit they want from external providers' use of AI. For law firm pricing and BD leaders, the 72%→44% hourly rate projection is the strategic planning number — a move of that magnitude over two to three years means that firms that have not built AFA competence, client-specific pricing data, and value demonstration frameworks by 2027 will be renegotiating from a position of weakness.