10th Circuit rules a law firm’s AI use doesn’t justify cutting its legal fees

A federal appeals court upheld a $114,663.11 fee award and said challengers must prove AI actually led to excessive billing A federal appeals court has weighed in on a question that has been hovering over the legal industry: should a law firm bill less because it used artificial intelligence? The answer, at least in this case, was no. The Denver-based 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that a law firm’s use of AI in a trade secrets lawsuit did not warrant reducing its legal fee award, according to Reuters. The court rejected arguments that the technology had led to excessive billing. What the court decided The case is Flux Drive Inc. v. Qiang Rong, docketed as No. 25-1308. Flux Drive was the plaintiff. The defendants were based in Illinois. Those defendants were represented by Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. A Colorado district court awarded them $114,663.11 in fees. Flux Drive challenged that award on appeal. Its argument centered on the firm’s use of AI tools, with the claim that the technology had produced unreasonable billing. The appeals court was not persuaded. It noted that the lower court judge had reviewed the billing records the firm submitted and found the...