After news broke last week that hybrid law firm Atrium would be shutting down its software startup, CEO Justin Kan told TechCrunch that the company “did not figure out how to make a dent in operational efficiency.” But it may not be legal tech providers that are coming up short.
While there are plenty of solutions on the market geared towards automating tasks such as brief-writing, pulling cases or even fielding basic client questions, getting work done faster flies in the face of the traditional billable hour model that continues to sustain many a law firm. In fact, the real answer to why technology can’t kill the billable hour may be exceedingly simple: Attorneys—and even some clients—don’t want it to happen.
