Just as time marches on, technology continues to evolve. During my youth, AI seemed like something out of a science fiction movie, something for the far distant future. Well, the future came, and while I don’t have a flying car, I do have AI at my fingertips. The AI I imagined did not take the form of Skynet, but as a tool for workers to increase efficiency.
People have questioned what AI’s impact will be in the legal sector, how it will affect delivery, and who can steal an early advantage when adopting AI. One group that has emerged as early adopters of AI are Alternative Legal Service Providers (ALSPs). The ALSP market has shown tremendous growth in recent years. Researchers say the global market has grown from $0.9 bn in 2015 to $28.5 bn, with 40% of that growth occurring in the last two years. ChatGPT hit the market in 2023. So I guess the question isn’t “Can ALSPs steal an advantage using AI?”, the question is how they have taken advantage of it so effectively.
ALSPs, such as Axiom, Elevate, and Factor, all provide legal services outside the traditional law firm model. The ALSPs model is based on disrupting the traditional legal service delivery by leveraging three areas where they have an advantage: cost, flexibility, and rapid scalability. That is why ALSPs have been able to wield AI and grow so effectively; AI takes the power of ALSPs and supercharges them. Sort of like making Messi 6’4.
So, how exactly does this “6’4″ Messi” effect play out in practice? By deploying AI across three game-changing fronts: document automation, predictive analytics, and client-facing tools.
Take contract review, a task that once required armies of paralegals and junior lawyers billing endless hours. Today, AI-powered alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) can analyse dense agreements in minutes, often with accuracy levels rivalling human reviewers at cheaper price. While many traditional law firms are also exploring the adoption of such technology to drive efficiency, they are often proceeding cautiously, mindful of potential concerns around staff reductions, impacts on billable hours, and adjustments to their fee structures. LegalSifter already flags high-risk clauses and suggests alternative wording on the fly, turning traditional review into a real-time negotiation tool. This isn’t just efficiency, it’s a wholesale re-engineering of legal labour economics.
The real disruption comes when AI moves beyond rote automation and into strategic territory. ALSPs are now training models on decades of case law to help predict litigation outcomes, something that would make most traditional firms baulk at the liability implications. These tools don’t just speed up work, they embed institutional-grade legal intelligence at startup speed, changing who can access high-quality legal counsel which ultimately creates a judicial system that is more accessible for all. Law firms have taken notice and responded launching their own ALSPs to blend agility with brand authority. Allen & Overy’s Peerpoint, Clifford Chance’s Flex, and Pinsent Masons’ Vario offer clients on-demand legal talent with the added benefits of flexibility, tech-enabled delivery and institutional backing. Some law firms are choosing a hybrid path, integrating these capabilities into internal teams rather than launching separate ALSPs. Take BCLP Cubed, created by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. Though not an ALSP, it combines UK and US volume-delivery hubs with legal ops and analytics to support repetitive work in commercial contracts, real estate, and lending.
AI, though, is not without its risks. In fact, using AI poses more than making an error when citing a case. It raises serious concerns around data confidentiality, model bias, accountability, and the potential for overreliance on technology in place of human legal judgment. For example, feeding sensitive client data into public AI tools could breach professional obligations, while black-box decision-making may compromise transparency in legal reasoning. Shoosmiths clearly spotted this as a gap in the market and responded with the creation of its innovative AI Comply tool. The tool serves as an interesting solution to the risks posed by AI, combining its own legal expertise with technology to provide an end-to-end AI compliance ecosystem – enhancing the services the firm can offer to its clients. As ALSPs continue to integrate AI into their workflows, maintaining ethical guardrails and robust oversight will be essential to ensure that the delivery of legal services to clients is of the highest quality.
ALSPs are no longer the understudies of the legal world and are becoming headline acts. By embedding AI into their DNA from day one, they’re setting new benchmarks for speed, precision, and client service. Traditional firms can’t afford to ignore this shift. They would be foolish to bury their head in the sand and not adapt, but the race is on, and in the AI age, its agility, not age, that wins.
