Swiss Arbitration / Kluwer 2026: 62% of Legal Departments Expect AI to Drive Fixed-Phase Fees in Arbitration

The Swiss Arbitration Association's July 13 analysis — drawing on the 2026 Ready Future Lawyer Report by Kluwer — found that 62% of legal departments believe AI-driven efficiencies will significantly reduce the prevalence of the billable hour in arbitration specifically, accelerating the shift toward fixed fees, value-based pricing, and outcome-oriented structures. The analysis proposes a durable hybrid model: routine, repeatable phases (document review, research, first drafts) move to fixed or capped pricing where AI has made costs predictable; genuinely complex, high-stakes advocacy remains hourly where time is still the best proxy for value. For law firm pricing teams building AFA architecture, the arbitration context is useful precisely because it is a practice area where phases are structurally discrete — review, preparation, hearing — and where the cost transparency that AI produces can directly support fixed-phase fee quotes without requiring the full renegotiation of the broader client relationship. Firms that begin phase-based budgeting in arbitration and international disputes are building the operational pricing capability that will eventually be required across practice areas, in a context where clients are already expecting the conversation.