Last Friday’s Business Development Forum, moderated by Barbara Koenen, co-founder of Beyond Billable Hours, and Andrew Hutchinson, co-founder of Rebel.Group, welcomed guest Stijn van Oirschot, co-founder of Beyond Billable Hours, for a discussion exploring how artificial intelligence and emerging technologies are reshaping business development and marketing functions within law firms. The conversation focused not only on the tools themselves, but also on the operational and cultural shifts required for firms to effectively adopt them.

Van Oirschot opened by emphasising that the legal sector is currently experiencing an unprecedented acceleration in AI adoption, largely driven by the rise of legal AI platforms such as Harvey and Legora. While much of the market attention has centred on legal workflows, he argued that business development and marketing teams are now presented with a significant opportunity to use AI to improve efficiency, client targeting, and strategic execution.

Different Levels of Technological Maturity Across Firms

Koenen highlighted that many firms remain at very different stages of technological maturity. Some firms have sophisticated business development structures, data systems, and strategies in place, while others still rely heavily on traditional relationship-driven approaches to winning work. Despite these differences, the speakers agreed that firms do not need advanced infrastructure to begin benefiting from AI tools.

Starting Small with Practical Use Cases

A key theme throughout the session was the importance of starting small. Van Oirschot encouraged professionals to focus first on “low-hanging fruit,” repetitive, time-consuming tasks that do not necessarily require high-value human input. Examples included rewriting lawyer biographies for pitches, adapting long-form legal content into client-friendly summaries, identifying prospective clients from existing data, and streamlining outreach workflows.

AI for Market Intelligence and Client Targeting

Koenen shared her own experience of configuring AI tools such as Claude to support market intelligence, client targeting, and business development planning. She stressed that even smaller firms without sophisticated CRM systems could derive substantial value from AI if they had clarity around their audience, positioning, and objectives.

The Challenges of Time and Accuracy

Hutchinson added that while AI tools are powerful, firms continue to face two major challenges: time and accuracy. Many professionals simply do not have the capacity to experiment extensively with new technologies alongside demanding workloads. At the same time, there remains a real risk of inaccuracies or hallucinations if AI-generated content is not carefully reviewed. He shared an example of a pitch generated using AI that included fabricated information significant enough to call into question whether the firm could actually perform the work proposed.

Cultural Barriers to Adoption

The discussion also examined the cultural barriers to adoption. Koenen noted that firms are often cautious about allowing operational teams to freely experiment with AI due to concerns around confidentiality, data security, and client obligations. Participants observed that while legal AI adoption has accelerated rapidly, operational functions such as BD and marketing are still lagging in many organisations.

The Importance of Data and Commercial Structure

Another major area of focus was the role of data and structure in law firm growth strategies. Hutchinson argued that many firms still lack a genuinely integrated and actionable business development strategy, despite having documents or plans that formally exist. He stressed that firms need stronger data foundations and clearer commercial accountability if they are to remain competitive in an increasingly technology-driven market.

AI and the Evolution of CRM Systems

The speakers explored how AI could significantly improve the usability of CRM and growth platforms by making them more conversational and integrated into daily workflows. Hutchinson described how he increasingly interacts with systems such as Salesforce directly through Claude, allowing him to update opportunities and retrieve information without manually navigating traditional CRM interfaces. This shift, he argued, could dramatically improve adoption among partners who have historically resisted CRM systems.

Bringing Together Multiple Communication Channels

Van Oirschot also pointed to the growing ability of AI tools to combine information across multiple channels, including emails, meetings, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and other communication sources, creating a more holistic picture of client relationships and business development activity.

Looking Ahead

The session concluded with a shared view that the legal industry is still only at the beginning of this transformation. While there is understandable uncertainty surrounding governance, implementation, and long-term impact, the panel agreed that firms that begin experimenting now, even with small, practical use cases, will be better positioned to adapt and compete in the future.

Overall Message

• AI adoption within legal business development is accelerating rapidly.
• Firms should begin with small, practical use cases rather than attempting full transformation immediately.
• Time pressures and concerns around accuracy remain significant barriers.
• Strong data foundations and commercial structures are becoming increasingly important.
• Conversational AI interfaces may finally improve the adoption of CRM and growth technologies within law firms.
• Firms that experiment early are likely to gain a competitive advantage as the market evolves.