LLM Token Costs Up 60% Since December 2025; Legal AI Unit Economics Under Pressure

J.P. Morgan Private Bank reports LLM token prices rose over 60% since December 2025 as data center demand spikes. Harvey's token consumption grew 14x in six months; a single complex contract review can cost $20,000 in compute. Pricing models are shifting from per-seat to usage-based utility-bill structures. For legal tech operators, the token cost trajectory directly compresses product margins: a platform priced at fixed per-seat rates while bearing rising per-query compute costs faces structural unit economics pressure unless usage is capped or pricing is rearchitected. The legal AI vendors building subscription or outcome-based pricing models — Norm Law, EvenUp's PI model, Superlegal at $117/contract — are effectively building usage-cost risk into product pricing. Those still on flat per-seat rates face the same repricing cycle that has hit every SaaS category when underlying infrastructure costs become variable.