Ropes & Gray Has Credited AI Training to Billables
The firm now allows junior associates to allocate 20% of their billable hours to learning internal AI workflows.
Updated on Oct. 13, 2026 in Artificial Intelligence
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Ropes & Gray has authorized first-year associates to count 400 hours of AI training toward their annual billable targets. The policy, which covers trainees in both the United States and Europe, aims to formalize time spent developing internal AI tools without incurring client charges.
Why it matters
Law firms are under pressure to demonstrate productivity gains as corporate clients shift work toward internal AI units. Current data suggests a significant disconnect between client expectations and the perceived value delivered by traditional external counsel.
Associates can now allocate 20% of their annual billable targets to AI training, totaling 400 hours. The program supports junior lawyers as they join teams tasked with building AI-enabled workflows.
The players
Ropes & Gray
An international law firm that has begun formalizing AI skill development for its junior associates.
AT&T
A telecommunications company that is aggressively shifting its legal strategy to internalize AI-driven workflows.
OpenAI
An artificial intelligence research organization now serving as a design partner for AT&T's internal legal systems.
The details
The firm facilitates this by assigning associates to specialized teams responsible for designing and deploying internal AI tools. These workflows are intended to improve legal efficiency, though the effort currently requires dedicated training time to ensure associates can build and maintain the necessary infrastructure. AT&T, meanwhile, has moved to centralize its own legal operations through its LegalEdge unit, which coordinates with partners like OpenAI to reduce reliance on external firms.
Timeline
January 2026: AT&T launched its LegalEdge internal unit.
October 8, 2026: AT&T named OpenAI as a design partner.
Within 12 months: Corporate legal departments intend to re-evaluate firms lacking AI value.
Over two years: AT&T plans to trim its external law firm roster from 30 to between 18 and 20.
The Tech Race
Corporate legal departments are increasingly consolidating their outside counsel rosters to focus on firms that provide measurable AI-driven efficiency. Ropes & Gray is positioning its associate training program to compete for this shrinking pool of external legal spend.
This policy provides junior lawyers with a structured pathway to gain technical proficiency without compromising their performance metrics. Clients should watch for more firms adopting similar training incentives as they compete for the attention of corporate legal teams over the next year.
The takeaway
The move signals that billable hours are being redefined to include technical labor as a prerequisite for winning corporate business. Watch for the roster reductions at major enterprises like AT&T over the next 24 months as a key indicator of which firms successfully modernize their service delivery.
Further reading
Learn more about the broader landscape of Artificial Intelligence and its impact on professional service workflows.
Source note: This article includes information reported by LawFuel.
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