How AI Drives Law Firm Profitability

Large law firms are exploring the potential of generative and agentic AI to improve efficiency and enhance client service, while supporting long-term profitability. Executives at leading firms expect investment in AI technologies to increase over the next five years—a trend that is pronounced among the largest firms. Today, firm leaders aren’t asking whether to invest in AI, but how to invest wisely and quantify AI’s business value to their unique firm.

To answer that question, LexisNexis commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct an independent Total Economic Impact™ study of Lexis+ AI for large law firms.

Published in May 2025, The Total Economic Impact of Lexis+ AI for Large Law Firms found that large firms using Lexis+ AI gained:

• 344% projected return on investment (ROI) over three years
• Payback in under six months
• $6.5m in net present value profit for the model large law firm

These findings were based on in-depth interviews with large law firms actively using Lexis+ AI, combined with a modeled financial analysis, and build upon the LexisNexis 2024 Investing in Legal Innovation Survey, which polled executives from large law firms. Nearly half of respondents expect generative AI to reduce costs, and a third expect it to increase firm revenue. Over 70% believe it will unlock new value-added services for clients.

With these insights and the new independent analysis by Forrester Consulting, we can explore how Lexis+ AI delivered measurable profitability across four firmwide dimensions.

Reducing Write-Offs, Increasing Fee Recovery

Associates can be required to write off a portion of their billable hours when conducting legal research for client matters. Clients are reluctant to pay for extended hours spent learning or conducting routine research—which is more likely to impact junior attorneys. Lexis+ AI directly addresses this issue by increasing the efficiency of these research tasks.

According to Forrester Consulting, with Lexis+ AI, as much as 35% of the hours previously written off on research can be allocated towards billable hours for the firm. While a portion of associate hours may still be written off, this reduction has a significant impact on profitability by recovering revenue. The theoretical firm from the study was able to recover up to $6.2m in previously written-off fees over 3 years.

Lexis+ AI supports this result through a variety of capabilities. New associates are familiar with the solution having had access in law school. Its AI-enabled conversational legal research is easier to learn and faster to conduct than traditional research. In addition, the case law summarization features offer an improved ability to synthesize and communicate research results. In fact, the chief innovation officer at one law firm told Forrester that senior attorneys may “get the lay of the land before assigning work to an associate,” offering them guidance on promising cases.

While the impact on the reduction in written-off fees will vary depending on individual firm policies, the study found that this low-hanging fruit had an immediate impact on the bottom-line.

Unlocking Senior Attorney Capacity

While the junior associate benefit is immediate, the long-term value may be even greater for senior attorneys. Experienced associates and partners may routinely invest hours in drafting or legal analysis. The intensive, detail-oriented work required in the practice of law remains important, but some of the routine, repetitive tasks included in this work can be streamlined with AI. 

Forrester Consulting found that with Lexis+ AI, partners and senior associates can save up to 2.5 hours per week on drafting and legal analysis tasks—and that a portion of that time can be reallocated to high-value client work. The result was $1.8m in gains over 3 years for the model firm.

AI’s capabilities in the more complex work done by senior attorneys are still expanding. Since Forrester Consulting initiated the Total Economic Impact™ study, LexisNexis released a sweeping update to Lexis+ AI capabilities, known as LexisNexis Protégé™. With the Protégé AI assistant, attorneys draft a wider array of types of legal documents—such as fully-tailored transactional documents as well as litigation motions, arguments, and complaints —making the potential efficiencies even greater. In addition, with Protégé in Lexis+ AI, attorneys can securely upload tens of thousands of legal documents to a document Vault that allows them to conduct AI tasks to summarize, draft, research, and more. Finally, Protégé has personalization features that allow users to customize the AI output, ensuring that the quality of the work is aligned with their expectations. With Protégé, Lexis+ AI can increasingly help attorneys minimize lower-value tasks and focus on the work that only a lawyer can do. 

“…We’re finding very senior partners wanting to … learn the GenAI tools to see how the time savings can be realized," said the information and research senior manager at a large law firm with $3b in annual revenue.

Enhanced Client Value, Retention & Growth

Lexis+ AI helps attorneys deliver results faster and with higher confidence in the quality of results. These outcomes impact the client experience and allow firms to increase the value they offer to their clients

In the 2024 Investing in Legal Innovation Survey, firms saw AI as a driver of client satisfaction, loyalty, and growth. 70% of law firm leaders believe generative AI will enable new value-added services and 47% expressed exploring new business lines or billable opportunities powered by AI.

Forrester Consulting findings were similar. Of AI’s impact on client satisfaction, the director of knowledge for research for a large law firm with $3b in annual revenue told Forrester Consulting, “[Lexis+ AI] must enhance client service quite significantly by making sure there’s no point unturned. It helps you feel confident that you’ve got the results you need.”

As client demands increase, the ability to deliver work of the highest quality more efficiently becomes a key differentiator. Some firms also noted to Forrester that Lexis+ AI lays the groundwork for alternative fee models and flat-rate arrangements—providing flexibility as pricing expectations evolve.

Increased Firm Revenue and Profitability

Together, these improvements result in meaningful, quantifiable impact at both the attorney and firm level.

According to Forrester Consulting’s model:

• Firm revenue increased by 2%, representing nearly $30m in Year 3
• Profit per equity partner grew 1.5%, representing $5.7m in additional profit for the firm in Year 3

This impact is the result of reducing write-offs for legal research and allowing experienced attorneys to allocate more of their time to billable work. With the continuous evolution of Lexis+ AI, these benefits are expected to grow and deliver even more value for the firm. 

AI That Works for the Business of Law

Lexis+ AI distinguishes itself by outcomes: unlocking new capacity for attorneys and increasing client value. With a thoughtful approach to integrating Lexis+ AI, firms can leverage AI as a strategic asset to drive long-term profitability as it continuously evolves.

Download The Total Economic Impact™ of LexisNexis Lexis+ AI for Large Law Firms, Forrester Consulting, May 2025 to see the numbers for yourself at www.lexisnexis.com/firm-ai-roi