New venture takes aim at the billable hour
Former Allen & Overy boss Wim Dejonghe has co-founded a new AI-powered law firm taking aim at one of the legal profession’s most familiar features: the billable hour.
Falcon is launching first in Belgium with a fairly simple pitch. For €1,000 (roughly £800) a month, businesses can get up to six commercial contracts reviewed, including non-disclosure and data-processing agreements. Clients can send documents through Slack or Microsoft Teams, with reviews returned the same day.
Falcon says similar work at a traditional law firm could cost between €3,000 (£2,500) and €4,000 (£3,400) and take days or even weeks. Ex-A&O global senior partner Dejonghe argues the hourly billing model is partly to blame, telling the Global Legal Post: “You basically pass on inefficiencies to the client, and I think that really needs to change and will change … with AI.”
For all the AI, Falcon isn’t cutting lawyers out altogether. Every contract review is signed off by a qualified lawyer, with Dejonghe saying clients still want “the judgment of a lawyer” alongside the speed AI can offer.
Dejonghe is no stranger to major shake-ups in the legal market. Back in 2023, as A&O senior partner, he described the firm’s merger with Shearman & Sterling as a “historic moment for both firms and our profession”. The tie-up went on to create A&O Shearman.
Backed by €1.5 million in pre-seed funding, Falcon already has expansion on the agenda. The team also includes former Freshfields lawyer Rémy Bonnaffé and the entrepreneurs behind Belgian HR start-up Mbrella, while the firm is in talks with potential “founding lawyers” in London, Paris and Amsterdam.
As Legal Cheek has reported, the legal AI arms race is already well underway, although most firms have so far focused on using the technology inside the traditional law firm model. Latham & Watkins is building its own AI infrastructure, Kirkland & Ellis is investing heavily in bespoke tools, Freshfields has teamed up with Anthropic, and OpenAI is working with several major US firms on legal tech.
