Long read, November 2, 2025
the economics of the billable hour under automation
The problem
The short version: the economics of the billable hour under automation is easier to get wrong than most teams assume, and the failure is usually silent.
In testing, the gap between a fast pass and a careful pass was not accuracy on the central question. It was whether the reviewer noticed the interaction with an adjacent provision.
What we do about it
The register is the deliverable. A finding without an owner and a date is an observation, not a control.
In the current build this runs as part of the standard pass, so it applies to every document in the set rather than only the ones someone thought to check.
Where it breaks
Scanned originals with poor image quality remain the weakest input. So do agreements that were assembled from three precedents and never reconciled, which is common in long-lived supplier relationships.
We will revisit this once we have a larger sample. The current numbers are directional rather than settled.
Working notes from the Lawrs team. General information about legal technology and practice, not legal advice.