Is AI finally going to kill the billable hour?

People have been predicting its death for decades. Maurice Tunney thinks this time might actually be different.

David Woolstencroft had a great conversation with Maurice, Director of Technology and Innovation at Keystone Law, about AI, technology and the very different platform model behind Keystone.

Maurice has worked in legal for 25 years and has heard the “death of the billable hour” conversation throughout his career. But with AI now dramatically reducing the time needed for certain types of legal work, his view is that something fundamental has to change. If the time required to do the work is being slashed, can firms really keep charging for time in the same way?

They also talk about Keystone’s unique operating model, building technology around how lawyers actually work, practical AI adoption, and one lawyer who has grown his practice by around 60–70% with AI helping, under close supervision, with drafting, analysis and chronology work.

A fascinating conversation about what AI might really change inside a law firm, beyond simply adding another tool to the tech stack.

Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:31 Meet Maurice
3:46 The 15% Referral Incentive
5:06 The Happiest Law Firm
6:22 Why Lawyers Join
8:14 Building From Scratch In The Cloud
13:00 Choosing The Tech Stack
17:40 The AI Pressure
19:43 Keybot And Secure ChatGPT
23:00 When Clients Use ChatGPT
24:44 The Death Of The Billable Hour
27:42 AI As The Junior
28:45 Picking The Big AI Tools
30:31 Rolling Out AI Without Overload
32:29 A Year From Now

Guest: Maurice Tunney, Director of Technology and Innovation, Keystone Law
Host: David Woolstencroft

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𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝗜 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗷𝘂𝗺𝗽𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 $𝟭𝟱,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝘁𝗼 $𝟲𝟬,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵?

At #ILTACON2026, Tim Kenney sat down with Peter Geovanes, Founder of Juris Tech Advisors, LLC, to talk about where law firms are really up to with AI.

Peter works with firms at very different stages, from choosing tools and identifying use cases to training lawyers, managing governance and working out what AI means for pricing and client conversations.

One issue getting much harder to ignore is AI consumption costs. Peter shared an example of a firm moving from roughly $15,000 a month to more than $60,000, with some lawyers generating around $1,000 a day in token costs.

That raises a bigger question: if AI saves hours of lawyer time but creates a significant technology cost, how should firms price that value for clients?

They also get into knowledge management, shadow AI, better prompting, and why Peter believes a well-structured prompt can sometimes deliver better results without always reaching for the most expensive model.

“𝗜 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗰𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗲 𝗮 𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘀.”

At #ILTACON2026, Tim Kenney sat down with Andrew Hutchinson, Founder of Rebel.Group, to talk acquisitions, AI hype and what law firms actually need.

After more than 20 years in legal tech, Hutch has seen the same pattern play out again and again: companies get acquired, founders move on, and the people with the passion and deep product knowledge disappear with them.

𝗥𝗲𝗯𝗲𝗹.𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁.

And on AI? Hutch isn’t buying all the hype.

His view is simple: 𝗳𝗶𝘅 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁. Remove the painful manual work. Give people their time back. Then start layering intelligence on top.

They also get into whether AI will really reduce legal spend, whether today’s valuations make sense, and why better data could completely change pricing and how firms resource matters.

#PeopleInLegal #ILTACON2026 #WeAreILTA #LegalTech #LegalAI

𝗔𝗜 𝗮𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲?

Ahead of the Centre for Legal Innovation 2026 APAC Summit, David Woolstencroft sat down with Alison Laird, Director at the Centre for Legal Innovation, for a preview of what’s coming on 19–20 October in Sydney.

Alison shared some early findings from CLI’s Future of Law research, including a pretty striking gap: 𝟴𝟲% 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗜, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝟭𝟵% 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀.

They also talked about what’s really getting in the way of transformation, the skills lawyers will need next, how the traditional career path may start shifting, and why the summit is designed to get people beyond talking about change and into actually building what comes next.

As Alison put it, “𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿.”

Looking forward to 𝗖𝗟𝗜 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗔𝗣𝗔𝗖 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁: 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗟𝗮𝘄. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗡𝗼𝘄. 📍 𝗛𝗶𝗹𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘆𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘆📅 𝟭𝟵–𝟮𝟬 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲

𝗦𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗼 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗲𝘁?

At #ILTACON2026, Tim Kenney sat down with Robert Martorana from Theo Ai and Pamela Fehring (JD, CIPP/US), an 𝗔𝗜 𝗘𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 & 𝗘𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿, to talk about litigation defence intelligence and why the corporate legal side has been somewhat overlooked in the AI rush.

When Theo AI spoke with in-house legal teams, one answer kept coming back: many were still managing litigation portfolios through spreadsheets, pulling information manually from billing systems, document management systems and other sources.

Theo AI takes a different approach, bringing that information together so legal teams can see not just one matter, but their 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗼 in one place. That opens the door to better benchmarking, outside counsel spend decisions, settlement strategy and identifying trends before they become bigger problems.

Robert also shared why Theo AI chose to focus specifically on the 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, where they saw far fewer AI solutions compared with the plaintiff side.

The bigger idea? Helping legal departments move from 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 by actually using the data they already have.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗔𝗜 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴?

At #ILTACON2026, David sat down with Heath Harris, MBA, VP, Applied AI, Enterprise Transformation at NetDocuments, to talk about what AI transformation actually looks like inside a law firm.

Heath works with firms around the world on designing and implementing AI strategies, then brings those lessons back into product development at NetDocuments.

One thing that stood out was his approach to AI investment. Rather than starting with the product, start with the activity.

- What do you need for workflow?

- Search?

- A chat assistant?

- And how do you deploy those capabilities responsibly without buying five tools that solve the same problem?

They also talked about NetDocuments’ work with Google Gemini and Legora, the role of MCP, and the growing challenge for firms around governance, security and avoiding a “shadow DMS” as more AI tools enter the business.

And perhaps the most useful message for firms feeling behind:

𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴.

You don’t need to have everything figured out today. Progress matters more than chasing every new thing that appears.

💡 A great conversation about cutting through the AI noise and focusing on what is actually practical.

#PeopleInLegal #ILTACON2026 #WeAreILTA #LegalTech #LegalAI

𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝘀 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁.

At #ILTACON2026, Tim Kenney sat down with Alex Smith, Global Product Lead, Knowledge, Search & AI at iManage, to talk about what legal AI needs in order to become genuinely useful inside firms.

Alex’s point was simple: firms don’t just need more data. They need the 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀, 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲, 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝘀𝗲.

They also got into what iManage calls its “𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗰”, a structured layer designed to connect matter, client, people and document information so AI can find the right things with much more precision.

From there, the conversation moved into 𝗠𝗖𝗣, 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵, and how firms may start moving from individual AI tasks into more connected workflows and processes.

One thing I liked was Alex’s caution around the “agent” conversation. We’re not at the point where someone presses a button and an entire matter runs itself, but we are getting much closer to chaining tasks together in a more intelligent way.

#PeopleInLegal #ILTACON2026 #WeAreILTA #LegalTech #LegalAI

At #ILTACON2026, Tim Kenney sat down with Mathew Kerbis, Co-Founder and CEO of Practi, to talk about one of legal’s longest-running headaches: the billable hour.

Practi is taking a different approach, focusing on 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘁-𝗳𝗲𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴, with the idea that firms should be rewarded for getting work done faster, not for taking longer.

Mathew put it simply:

“𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆.”

If AI helps lawyers work faster and handle more matters, the commercial model needs to keep up. Instead of measuring success by hours billed, firms can start thinking about efficiency, margin and how much more value they can deliver.

Practi is only eight months into market and already has 80+ firms on the platform, making ILTACON its first major exhibition opportunity.

A really interesting conversation about what happens when you start separating 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 in legal.

#PeopleInLegal #ILTACON2026 #WeAreILTA #LegalTech #FutureOfLaw