It’s high time we dropped the word “alternative” from the phrase “alternative legal service provider” (ALSP). Clearly, AI and so-called alternative means of delivering legal services are now firmly in the mainstream—and it’s time we all accepted this and stopped referring to them as “alternative.”

It’s interesting to reflect on how far ALSPs have come from their emergence in the early 2000s, when they sat at the fringes of the profession, to their position today, where they take center stage in shaping legal services. Let’s have a look at their evolution.