The "productisation" of the legal sector: from artisanal advice to scalable services

The future of law firms: less toga, more product

There is an uncomfortable truth that hangs over the boardroom meetings of almost every professional services firm: giving advice is no longer enough. For decades, law firms, consultancies and audit firms have lived on the alchemy of expertise: thinking hard, writing impeccable reports and charging by the hour. But times are changing, and now the question everyone avoids asking aloud is: "How much longer can we keep selling time?"

Because, to survive beyond the next five years, firms will have to stop selling advice and start building systems. They will have to operate, not just advise.

From artisanal consultancy to professional product

As a post by James O'Dowd, founder & CEO of Patrick Morgan, suggested, which generated a lot of debate, it's not about buying a few ChatGPT licenses, hiring a "Head of AI" with futuristic glasses and carrying on as usual. It's about completely rebuilding the architecture of the business, from how we sell, to how we deliver value and, above all, how we scale.

The firms that succeed will not be the ones that talk the most about innovation, but the ones that learn how to mass produce value without losing their soul. They will have commercial teams with real product and platform expertise and leaders who understand something as unglamorous (but as crucial) as renewals, pricing and customer success.

And partners - well, partners will move from being just relationship gatekeepers to become platform architects. Professionals who understand how to combine expertise, data and technology to generate continuous results. Yes, continuous. Because projects that start and end are as old-fashioned as BlackBerrys.

You don't see this. You can't. I know. Because you imagine the partners of today, and you're probably thinking of those who have been in the industry for a lifetime and are the most traditionalist. But it's already happening in the most innovative firms. The ones that have left the legacy behind and have dared with new models. New partners, younger, more visionary, less traditional.

From one-off projects to systems that learn

For years, every project has been approached as if for the first time. A blank sheet of paper, a new proposal, a new presentation. The result: tons of uncodified knowledge and zero reuse. But in a world driven by artificial intelligence, the firms that manage to codify their know-how, systematise what works and reduce the variability of results, will be the ones that win the game.

Because that - the ability to predict results with confidence - is what clients are willing to pay for.

The end of improvisation (and hourly billing)

Many firms know that improvisation cannot scale, but they are still afraid to focus. The dilemma is clear: protect today's billing or build tomorrow's model. Most try to do both, and end up stuck in "perpetual strategic PowerPoint" limbo.

Hourly-based contracts will gradually disappear, replaced by outcome-based models, where what is paid for is not the time spent, but the impact achieved. And that requires very different internal systems: corporate intellectual property, workflow automation, AI governance... In short: innovation must be inside the process, not on the side as an ornament.

People will remain the real asset

In this paradigm shift, the firms that win will not be those that adopt the most technology, but those that manage to retain the right people. Because, although the talk may sound like robots and platforms, what really moves the needle is still human talent.

Professionals who can combine judgement, process design and automation will form the backbone of the next generation of firms. And only organisations that offer them a sustainable and transparent career path will be able to sustain performance over the long term. The others will continue to start from scratch every time a good professional leaves.

From selling time to selling trust

The new model is not about more reporting, but about building integrated ecosystems, where clients can operate, decide and measure results in real time. In a world saturated with disconnected tools, integration is the new luxury. Clients no longer want more software; they want less friction.

Firms that understand that will become platforms of trust, technology and performance. They will stop delivering plans and start delivering results.

And yes, change is dizzying. But it is also a magnificent opportunity: from being advisors to being value creators.

And for corporate advocacy... a golden opportunity.

For years, companies have relied on outside counsel operating under models that are slow, opaque and difficult to scale. But the 'productisation' of the legal sector, when services are turned into replicable, measurable and sustainable solutions, offers corporate legal teams three major advantages:

• Shorter timescales and greater predictability. When firms systematise their work, much of the improvisation disappears. Repeatable, technology-supported processes reduce turnaround times, make results more predictable and allow internal planning with greater certainty. Less "we're checking" and more "you'll have it by Thursday at 17:00".
• More transparent costs and value-aligned pricing models. Outcome-based or subscription-based models replace hourly billing. This allows you to budget in advance, compare suppliers and justify spend to finance without feeling like your budget is a black box. Transparency is no longer a luxury and becomes standard.
• Access to structured and reusable knowledge. When firms turn their know-how into products or platforms, in-house clients can benefit from this accumulated knowledge. They do not pay for "reinventing the wheel", but for proven and optimised solutions. The relationship is based on continuous learning and iterative improvement, not on starting from scratch every quarter.

Repeatable, scalable and human

The future of professional services will not belong to those who know the most, but to those who know best how to turn what they know into something repeatable, scalable and human. Because knowledge is power, yes, but knowledge that is well packaged, automated and delivered with purpose is already a product.

If you haven't seen it, maybe at some point you took off your glasses. And when we lose their true function - vision and imagination - we also lose the most valuable power we have: to believe beyond the obvious, beyond the visible, beyond what we have already tasted. Erich Fromm, the German psychologist and psychoanalyst, said that "creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties". When you imagine the new legacy of the legal sector, be brave and let go of certainties. You will see a different kind of future. And if you look closely, you will see that it is already present.

And now I am ready to listen to more voices. The ones that defend hourly billing and will have been horrified to think that a professional service can become a product. Those who haven't even tried to put on their glasses.

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A case study of transformation in the legal sector

The transformation of the legal sector described in this article is not an exercise in futurism, but a process that is already taking place in a number of organisations, mainly in the Anglo-Saxon sphere. Some firms have evolved the concept of innovation and have started to work structurally to turn their services into repeatable, measurable and scalable systems.

In the case of ECIJA, this process starts from a clear premise: the legal sector does not transform itself incrementally, but by redesigning its operating models. The question is no longer how to gain efficiency, but how to build services capable of operating, learning and scaling without relying exclusively on billable hours.

This approach involves building a different operating system, in which the firm is organised under a legal platform logic that integrates processes, talent and technology to generate consistent and predictable results. It involves moving away from an artisanal approach - which requires starting from scratch on every project - and moving towards models where knowledge is codified, the repeatable is automated, and human judgement is reserved for the highest-value decisions. Generative artificial intelligence accelerates this process not as an isolated tool, but as part of the operational core that underpins new forms of service delivery.

The Lawyer's recent description of ECIJA illustrates this evolution: "ECIJA has not only digitised its workflows; it has re-engineered entire service lines on AI-native processes. Matters that once required armies of junior lawyers now progress through an automated infrastructure overseen by specialised technologists. Professionals are shifting to higher-value tasks; client interfaces are increasingly productised; and the firm's cross-border capability has been articulated through technology, not just team expansion. More than a metaphor, this description reflects a growth model based on technological leverage.

Re-engineering, automation and productisation go hand in hand. In this context, service lines have been rebuilt to operate on automated infrastructures that reduce variability and expand operational capacity. The goal is to offer more predictable services, supported by standardised processes, objective measurements and systems that learn with each iteration. AI is no longer an afterthought, but is integrated into the structure that allows legal services to scale without compromising quality or legal judgement.

This transformation also implies an overhaul of the lawyer's role, which evolves from individual production of documents to strategic oversight of systems. The concept of "lawyer in the loop" is not limited to a control mechanism, but redefines the professional practice: technology processes and proposes, while the lawyer decides, contextualises and assumes legal responsibility. AI extends the scope of professional judgement without replacing it.

Productisation also changes the relationship with clients. When services are based on systems - and not only on people - dependence on specific professionals decreases and the homogeneity and auditability of solutions increases. The customer has access to integrated services that combine data, processes and technology, and that allow for continuous operation, measurement and improvement. In an environment characterised by technological fragmentation, integration takes on a central role.

This organisational model also requires more hybrid internal structures, with the incorporation of non-legal profiles - legal engineers, data analysts or product managers - who collaborate with lawyers in the design of complete solutions. It is not a matter of superimposing technology on the traditional structure, but of reconfiguring the firm as a platform capable of learning and scaling, transforming individual knowledge into corporate intellectual property and replicable services.

Finally, the ECIJA case suggests that the evolution of the legal sector will depend less on the discourse on innovation and more on the ability to integrate it into concrete operating models. The challenge is not just to adopt artificial intelligence, but to develop systems in which technology, processes and legal judgement work together. Such approaches point to a growth model based on the multiplication of capabilities and not just the accumulation of hours, anticipating a possible direction for the next stage of the legal sector.

Access the full article published in Elderecho.com here.