Carolyn Elefant on AI, Pricing, and Building a Law Firm You Actually Want

Law firm owners are staring at two truths: technology keeps changing (fast), and the old ways (billable hour, local servers, paper habits) don’t always serve clients—or your profitability—anymore. In this episode, attorney and longtime MyShingle founder Carolyn Elefant shares practical ways solos and small firms can adopt AI, rethink pricing, and start or re-shape a practice on their terms.

Real-Life Story: A 30-year solo who embraces what’s next

Carolyn launched her firm three decades ago and has been writing at MyShingle.com since 2002. She’s watched the profession fear every new tool—email, the cloud, and now AI—only to later adopt them as standard. Recently, she organized a 5.5-hour “teach-in” with 23 lawyers demoing real AI workflows across Copilot, Gemini, NotebookLM, and more—proof that useful, ethical, day-to-day AI is already here. She also returned as a columnist at Above the Law, focusing on modern solo practice, independence, and the changing reasons lawyers strike out on their own.

Framework/Lessons: What law firm owners can copy today

1. Adopt tech like a lawyer (risk-aware, not risk-averse).

   • Treat tools (email, cloud, AI) like any risk decision: identify risks, set guardrails, and move. Don’t stall your firm’s growth over hypotheticals.

   • Confidentiality still rules. Use redaction/placeholder workflows and trusted platforms; document your policy.

2. Learn AI by example—then personalize.

   • Demos and sample prompts spark ideas, but your best results come from prompts/GPTs tailored to your voice, workflows, and matter types.

   • Expect change. The models evolve. Keep iterating your instructions the way you’d iterate a brief.

3. Price for outcomes, not hours (when the work allows).

   • Fixed or phased pricing aligns incentives and reduces billing admin.

   • Make scope explicit (what’s included vs. what triggers a new phase). This is especially clean for repeatable matters (e.g., trademarks, certain admin procedures).

   • If hourly stays, keep it rare and strategic—use it when true effort is unpredictable.

4. Start lean; grow on purpose.

   • New solos don’t need a $25k program on day one. Start with the basics (calendar links, a light tech stack, a simple CRM), then invest as revenue stabilizes.

   • Remote-first is respectable and profitable. Add people/space intentionally—not by habit.

5. Create content nobody else is saying.

   • Carolyn hunts for the gaps—topics people aren’t covering—and listens in communities (FB groups, Reddit) for real questions.

   • Pillars are great, but breakout posts come from contrarian or overlooked angles that speak to lived problems.

Fixes/Results: What this looks like inside a firm

• Operational wins: Faster intake with scheduling links; clearer scopes that keep matters moving; fewer hours wasted on billing disputes.

• Financial wins: Predictable MRR from fixed/phase fees; less leakage from under-billing and write-offs; more capacity to serve better clients.

• Team wins: Documented AI prompts for recurring tasks; simple policies for confidentiality; an internal “prompt library” that speeds drafting and research.

• Owner wins: Confidence to adopt new tools, not fear them. Freedom to design your firm—whether that means staying lean or scaling with intention.

Conclusion

Whether you’re launching your firm or resetting one you already run, the path to profit rarely comes from doubling down on the past. It comes from adopting the right tools, pricing around value, and publishing the ideas your clients actually need to hear—consistently.

Listen/watch the full episode with Carolyn Elefant to hear how she built longevity by staying curious, pragmatic, and client-focused.