In law firm offices around Australia right now, someone’s currently very excited about:
Automation
AI agents
Becoming a ‘frontier firm’
Removing unbillable admin
Faster turnaround
After attending the annual Legal Sector Advisors + Suppliers Conference (hosted by Professional Services BD expert Alistair Marshall and Grant Thornton), where the key theme was AI adoption, I kept thinking of one thing:
All great…but what do clients hear when you say AI?
Because there’s a very fine line between:
‘We use AI to make things faster and better’
and
‘Your matter now takes less time and effort.’
That distinction is huge and has to be handled carefully. Particularly in professional services like legal, where firms have spent years building reputations around expertise, judgement and trusted advice.
The AI Perception Problem
Across the conference, which brought together Sydney’s top legal firms, suppliers and guest speakers, there were many conversations around client perception and AI usage. The issue of questioning fees if work is ‘faster’, clients actively not wanting AI used at all, and how to price legal work in the age of AI.
Should firms even be positioning AI use externally - after all, it’s to support the process, not the end decision?
There’s no doubt AI is reshaping productivity inside Australian law firms - with the Law Society Journal recently investigating the potential impact on billing, value and client expectations.
The question we should all be considering now is not ‘Should firms use AI?’ (they are).
But, more critically, ‘How should firms communicate that to clients?’
The Positioning Challenge
Consider which lands best here:
‘AI makes us faster and more efficient in your legal matter.’
OR
‘AI frees our lawyers up for more strategic thinking, more face-to-face client interaction and higher-impact work.’
Those two messages create very different perceptions of value.
And the firms that navigate this best will be the ones spending just as much time thinking about how AI is positioned across their website, capability statements and client-facing comms, as they are investing in the technology itself.
Otherwise, clients may start drawing conclusions you never intended.
If you’re currently navigating how to position AI, expertise and value in client-facing copy, messaging or brand positioning - feel free to get in touch.