Law firm's AI experiment gives lawyers a break from billable hours
By Sarah Merken and Mike Scarcella, Reuters, November 6, 2025
As law firms grapple with how to apply increasingly powerful artificial intelligence tools to their work, Ropes & Gray is betting a slice of its potential revenues on a new initiative to build its lawyers' skills with the technology.
Starting now, the firm said its first-year associates can devote nearly 400 hours of their annual billing requirements to experimenting with AI instead of charging time to clients.
The Boston-founded global firm wants to enable early-career lawyers "to see the importance of this transformative technology, and also to empower them to have the time to spend to learn the tools," said Jane Rogers, a finance partner and member of the firm's management committee.
Law firms use annual billable hour targets to set performance expectations and allocate bonuses to associates and other salaried attorneys. Some offer varying degrees of billable credits in areas such as pro bono work and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
At 1,500-lawyer Ropes & Gray, new associates can now allocate up to 20% of their required billable hours for AI training and simulations, including time spent experimenting on their own and in groups. A firm spokesperson said its first-year billable hour target is generally 1,900 hours, a requirement the lawyers "consistently meet."
