How Smart Lawyers Are Rethinking Pricing and Scale

By Steve Fretzin & Mathew Kerbis

The billable hour has survived for decades not because it works well, but because it feels familiar. Lawyers know how to track time. Firms know how to invoice it. Clients tolerate it because they believe there is no alternative. That assumption is finally breaking down.

That is why this conversation with Mathew Kerbis mattered. Mathew is the founder of Subscription Attorney and Practi.ai, and one of the most thoughtful voices pushing lawyers to rethink how legal services are delivered, priced, and scaled. We dug into subscriptions, AI, value based pricing, and the uncomfortable reality facing firms that tie revenue directly to hours worked.

What emerged was not a warning, but a roadmap.

Why Time Based Billing Is Becoming a Trap
Hourly billing rewards effort, not outcomes. It ties revenue directly to time spent and caps upside the moment efficiency improves. Lawyers feel busy, firms look profitable on paper, yet many struggle with cash flow, burnout, and an inability to invest in growth.

Mathew shared a simple but uncomfortable truth. When your work is fully synchronous with your revenue, every improvement becomes a threat. Technology, automation, and AI shorten tasks that once took hours. Under an hourly model, that efficiency reduces revenue instead of increasing value.

The model is not broken because lawyers are greedy or lazy. It is broken because it was never designed for a world where work accelerates instead of expands.

Subscription Legal Services Change the Math
Subscriptions flip the relationship between effort and income. Instead of selling hours, lawyers sell access, predictability, and peace of mind. Clients budget more easily. Lawyers smooth revenue, increase lifetime value, and reduce the constant pressure to close the next matter.

Mathew’s experience building subscription based practices showed how small business clients respond when legal support becomes ongoing instead of episodic. Fractional general counsel work, proactive advice, and bundled services create deeper relationships and fewer emergency fires.

Subscriptions do not eliminate work. They change how work is valued.

AI Makes Value Based Pricing Non Optional
AI is not a future concept. It is already shrinking the time required for research, drafting, and analysis. That efficiency will not slow down. Firms that cling to hourly billing will be forced to choose between charging less or hiding efficiency, neither of which builds trust.

Mathew emphasized the difference between general purpose AI tools and purpose built legal tools. Lawyers will use both, but clients will care about results, not process. When outcomes improve and timelines shrink, pricing must reflect value delivered, not time spent.

AI does not replace lawyers. It exposes outdated business models.

Scaling Happens Through Systems, Not Heroics
Subscriptions and technology only work when paired with structure. Clear scopes, defined service tiers, onboarding systems, and boundaries protect both client experience and lawyer sanity.

Mathew was candid about building without a co-founder and learning these lessons in real time. The firms that succeed will not be the ones working harder. They will be the ones designing businesses that function without constant improvisation.

Scalability is not about growth for its own sake. It is about sustainability.

Final Thoughts
Lawyers are not late to this shift, but the window is closing. Clients already expect predictability, speed, and transparency. Technology already delivers efficiency. The only open question is whether law firms adapt intentionally or get dragged there reluctantly.

Subscriptions, value based pricing, and AI are not threats to good lawyers. They are tools that reward clarity, judgment, and relationships. The firms willing to rethink how they get paid will not just survive the transition. They will lead it.

About Mathew Kerbis
Mathew Kerbis is the founder of Subscription Attorney and Practi.ai, platforms designed to help lawyers move beyond the billable hour and build scalable, subscription based practices. He focuses on aligning pricing, technology, and client expectations in a rapidly changing legal market.

Connect with Mathew Kerbis
Website: https://practi.ai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerbisverse/

For more information about taking your law practice to the next level, please email me directly at steve@fretzin.com.

Steve Fretzin, an expert at legal business development, is the author of four books regarding the topic and is the host of the Be That Lawyer podcast. He has helped hundreds of attorneys across the world dramatically grow their book of business while living a well-balanced life. He can be reached at steve@fretzin.com.

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