The second day of ILTA’s Evolve Conference—a two-day event with just two tracks, AI and Cybersecurity—started with a bang. Zach Abramowitz, founder and CEO of ReplyAll, investor, and thought influencer, delivered a two-hour presentation titled AI in Legal Practice: Insights, Strategies and Practical Applications. Abramowitz spoke at Evolve last year, and it was interesting to see how his thinking on AI has evolved.
It’s tough to speak for two hours and keep an audience engaged, but Abramowitz pulled it off. He made a number of great points, but three in particular stood out to me:
1. GenAI is transforming contingency fee practice—and more.
Abramowitz noted that plaintiffs’ contingency lawyers are embracing GenAI with open arms. That makes sense—time is money for these lawyers. Saving time boosts their return, unlike lawyers who bill by the hour.
But he also made a point that hadn’t occurred to me. With tools like EvenUp, plaintiffs’ lawyers can draft well-written demand letters in a fraction of the time. I’ve written before about tools that help evaluate cases, but now these tools also help lawyers generate and prosecute cases faster and more efficiently. This not only improves returns—it allows lawyers to take on cases that were previously too costly to justify.
According to Abramowitz, the result will be more litigation. GenAI tools let these lawyers scale their operations, further motivating them to file and handle more cases. In fact, I’ve heard several defense lawyers comment that mediocre plaintiffs’ lawyers seem to have miraculously improved their skills. (Of course, it’s not miraculous—it’s just ChatGPT.) Bottom line: instead of decreasing legal work, GenAI may actually increase it.
If Abraamowitz is right, GenAI’s impact won’t stop at contingency fee practices. It has the potential to disrupt every area of legal work—especially those traditionally seen as too small or low-value to justify legal fees. Millions of potential clients have legal issues that go unresolved because the cost of hiring a lawyer exceeds the value of the solution. GenAI changes that equation. If lawyers can resolve these matters faster and at lower cost, a vast new market opens up—and legal demand could surge.
It’s a textbook example of the Jevons Principle: as technology reduces the cost of a service, demand for that service increases which I have discussed before. Far from replacing legal work, GenAI could dramatically expand it.
This observation was echoed Wednesday by another Zach—Zach Warren, a key researcher at Thomson Reuterș. His recent survey of in-house counsel (which I’ve previously discussed) suggests that legal departments expect demand to increase due to GenAI tools.
2. The rise of “AI First” law firms.
Abramowitz made another compelling point: he believes we’ll soon see “AI First” law firms. These small, agile firms will be staffed by talented lawyers from BigLaw who realize they can operate independently—anywhere—with the help of GenAI. Without the bureaucracy and headaches of large firms, they’ll get more done, with fewer people, and at higher margins.
We’re already seeing more lawyers move frequently between firms to get better deals. Forming lean, virtual firms powered by GenAI could be the next step in that evolution.
3. GenAI is best at high-level thinking.
The third insight was less about the legal field and more about the nature of GenAI tools themselves. The conventional wisdom is that these tools will handle the low-level grunt work, freeing lawyers to focus on strategic, high-value tasks. But Abramowitz flipped that idea: he believes GenAI’s true strength lies *in* that high-level work—helping lawyers brainstorm, strategize, and generate ideas.
That may sound a little unsettling at first. But it really means everyone can level up. GenAI democratizes access to high-quality thinking. Of course, that may also mean new skills will define top performers in the future—but what those are remains to be seen.
As an aside, Abramowitz advised us to treat GenAI like a human: give it a name, argue with it, even get mad and curse at it from time to time. Hmm. Maybe we’re not that far from a true relationship after all.
Broader Implications
All three of these points reinforced Amara’s Law: we tend to overestimate the impact of technology in the short term and underestimate its long-term effects.
Like many, I’m guilty of evaluating new technology through the lens of past experience. That may be why I underestimated the transformative potential of GenAI. Abramowitz also reminded me of Ray Kurzweil’s “Law of Accelerating Returns”: technological change is exponential, not linear. That means paradigm shifts come faster and hit harder than we expect.
In any event, smart presenters like Abramowitz remind us that our expectations are shaped by the past—which can blind us to what’s coming.
Parting Shots
As Joy Heath Rush reminded me on the way out the door this morning: it’s always a good idea to surround yourself with people smarter than you. So I’m glad I got to hear from Abramowitz.
Thanks, ILTA, for a great conference.
Btw, I prepared this post while flying at 35,000 feet—with a little help from ChatGPT. In a word, it was fun.