AI is forcing multi-tier pricing models into client conversations

Freshfields, Linklaters, Allen & Overy Shearman and other global firms are introducing multi-tier pricing structures under which clients choose between cheaper, AI-heavy output and slower, higher-quality human-led advice. Freshfields built and licensed a multijurisdictional compliance platform for Volkswagen's software arm Cariad that now updates automatically when laws change across more than 100 countries; that same model is being monetized with other clients. Clients are even hiring law firms to check work done by AI tools. Anthropic's General Counsel told the ABA last week that AI will "destroy" the billable hour — a position challenged by practitioners who argue AI is an accelerant to predictable pricing rather than a detonator of the hourly model itself.