How AI has transformed Sprintlaw’s operations

In conversation with Lawyers Weekly, Sprintlaw co-founder Alex Solo (pictured, right, alongside fellow co-founder, Tomoyuki Hachigo) reflected on how the NewLaw practice’s operations have “been gradually transforming” since the advent and mainstreaming of AI platforms such as ChatGPT, as well as the rise of large language models (LLMs).

AI has “had a big impact” on how the firm – which won the Innovator of the Year category at the 2019 Australian Law Awards – does things, Solo said.

“It’s helped us redesign our entire delivery and operational model. But it’s not a ‘robots-replacing-lawyers’ narrative,” he said.

“It’s more been about automating our operations, and making our lawyers faster, smarter, and more consistent, while freeing up their time for higher-value work.”

Such operational shifts have allowed the firm – which announced an expansion into the UK in June 2021, and then into New Zealand in December 2022 – to make notable efficiency gains and also enable a more flexible legal workforce.

“AI-powered processes have allowed us to shift from a fully in-house team to a hybrid model with high-quality contract lawyers – by reducing the risk of variance and helping ensure a consistent, high-quality client experience,” Solo said.

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Late last year, the firm also launched its own AI-powered platform, featuring Taylor AI – a voice-enabled AI lawyer specifically designed for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a large and historically underserved segment in the legal sector.

Part of the transformation has seen the firm’s headcount reduced from more than 60 to under 30 – “even as we more than doubled our client base”, he said.

Such a reduction happened, he said, through natural attrition and a conscious decision not to replace roles, as the firm explored how much more it could achieve with AI and automation.

Some of the biggest efficiency gains have come, Solo outlined, from non-legal parts of the business.

“In marketing, for example, we went from a large content team to a single team member leveraging AI. Similarly, in customer service, each team member is now able to handle more than twice the number of enquiries,” he said.

“AI has also taken over or accelerated many tasks previously done by operational and administrative staff, and our small IT team now delivers much higher output by using AI to assist with coding, testing, and scripting.”

With this all said, the legal team has also seen gains, Solo went on.

“We’ve built a suite of internal AI-powered tools that support lawyers in drafting and reviewing documents, saving significant time for our lawyers. The tools don’t replace legal judgment, but they leverage AI to do more and more of the heavy lifting – from gathering client instructions and synthesising file notes, to conducting preliminary research, selecting precedents and relevant internal resources, suggesting questions to ask and generating draft documents.”

Impact on firm headcounts

When asked if he thinks headcount in firms across the country are set to fall, Solo said, “not necessarily”.

“While AI may reduce the cost of delivering each matter, it also has the potential to expand the overall market – unlocking access for thousands of businesses that currently go without legal support, and enabling existing clients to address risks that were previously too costly or complex to manage,” he said.

“So, while legal teams may become leaner on a per-matter basis, the total volume of legal work could actually grow. That’s certainly our mission at Sprintlaw: to use technology to help small businesses that underuse – or don’t use – legal services at all, by improving efficiency and lowering costs.

“Our goal is to generate more legal work, not less, as we scale.”

What firms must do

On the question of how law firms can or should be scaling and redesigning, Solo noted that any shifts – intentional or otherwise – will depend on the type of work being undertaken.

“We are confident LLMs shine in systemised, high-volume environments like ours (serving start-ups and small businesses). Litigation and complex advisory practices, for example, may not see the same gains,” he said.

However, he noted, “nearly all firms could benefit from applying AI to internal operations, marketing, and paralegal-type processes”.

Looking ahead to the future, and what recent experience and observations have taught him and Sprintlaw about legal service delivery, Solo said that AI isn’t just a tool for lawyers.

“It’s a catalyst for rethinking how legal businesses operate end to end,” he said.

“The biggest wins have come from deeply integrating AI into workflows, not bolting it on. We’ve found the best results when humans remain in the loop but AI accelerates repetitive steps.”