What the fee proposal needs to clarify
Thomson Reuters' 2026 legal report describes in-house respondents expecting outside law firms to change their commercial models as AI use increases. That finding gives firms a reason to discuss the commercial expectations attached to legal AI. Its limits matter: it does not establish universal client demands or trends in Romanian legal fees. For a firm considering what to say to a client, the useful starting point is the particular change that client wants from the relationship.
Consider a hypothetical company commissioning a legal opinion before a board meeting. During the fee discussion, the client asks whether using AI will make the work cheaper. The question sounds like a request for a discount, but it leaves something important unresolved. The client might want a lower total fee. Alternatively, the immediate concern might be obtaining a clearer commitment about the final bill before authorizing the expenditure. Those concerns can overlap, yet they call for different responses in a proposal.
Lower expenditure and budget certainty
Lower expenditure concerns the amount paid. Budget certainty concerns how much uncertainty remains about that amount. A client can seek both, but satisfying one does not necessarily satisfy the other. A lower initial estimate can still leave the client exposed to an unclear final bill if additional questions fall outside it. An agreed amount for a defined assignment can be easier to budget for without being lower. The distinction helps the firm understand what the client means by commercial value.
A useful question is what would make the proposal easier for the client to approve: a smaller amount, a firmer commitment about the total, or both? In the board-opinion example, the client might have a spending limit or need internal approval before instructing the firm. These are possibilities to explore, not findings about client behavior. The answer can show whether the discussion should concentrate on the fee level, the uncertainty around an estimate, or the services included in the proposed amount.
Assignment scope and fee basis
The scope of the assignment then gives the fee discussion something concrete to address. For the hypothetical opinion, the proposal could specify the legal question covered, the delivery date, and the follow-up discussion included. That lets the client understand what expenditure they are being asked to approve. A broad description such as advice for the board meeting leaves more open. It might mean explaining the opinion, answering new questions during the meeting, or providing further advice afterward. Each possibility deserves an explicit agreement.
The fee basis needs to be considered alongside those boundaries. If the parties discuss a fixed amount, they need a shared understanding of what it covers. If they discuss an estimate, they can address when the final amount might differ and how a change would be communicated. These are possible negotiating choices for the hypothetical engagement. Neither follows automatically from AI use, and neither requires an assumption that AI has already reduced the work needed to answer the client's legal question.
Additional questions and commercial benefit
Additional questions deserve particular attention because their timing alone does not explain their scope. A request to clarify the opinion's conclusion might belong within the included follow-up discussion, if that is what the parties agree. A new legal question concerning another corporate decision might call for a separate proposal. The useful distinction concerns the substance of the request. The firm and client can agree to discuss any extension of the assignment and its fee before the additional work begins.
A price reduction can leave this uncertainty untouched. If the treatment of later questions remains unclear, the client may still be unable to anticipate the cost of the whole engagement. Conversely, a more precise proposal can address a budgeting concern even where the proposed amount stays the same. That is an implication of the hypothetical example, not a measured research result. A client whose priority is lower expenditure may still find clearer service boundaries insufficient, making a separate conversation about the amount necessary.
Before treating AI use as a commercial benefit, the firm and client need to agree what benefit they are seeking and where it appears in the service terms. They might discuss a different total fee, an agreed spending limit, or an expressly included conversation after delivery. The Thomson Reuters finding supports opening that discussion about expectations. It does not decide which arrangement is appropriate for this assignment, establish that savings have occurred, or supply evidence for a particular fee outcome.
Wisanna and explicit service terms
Wisanna is a private and secure legal-AI workspace built for lawyers and legal professional work. That describes the working environment offered by the product. It does not establish a reduction in legal fees or guarantee a client's final bill. The commercial commitment still depends on the assignment and the terms the firm agrees with its client, including the extent of the service and the fee basis the firm is prepared to offer.
Book a demo to see the workspace. A discussion of its place in the firm's work can begin with the commercial question already clarified: does the client want lower expenditure, greater budget certainty, or both? The demonstration introduces the product; the fee proposal records the commitment to the client. Connecting those decisions requires explicit service terms and an agreement about the intended benefit, without treating the use of AI itself as evidence that a saving has been achieved.
Lower expenditure
The client may want a smaller total fee, regardless of how clearly the assignment is defined.
Budget certainty
An agreed amount for defined services can make approval and budgeting easier without reducing the fee.
Service boundaries
The proposal should state what the fee covers and how additional legal questions will be handled.
See Wisanna in a legal working context
Book a demo to explore the workspace, then decide separately what commercial benefit and fee commitment the firm will offer its client.
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