National firm Shoosmiths will make an extra £1m available in the annual bonus after reaching one million AI prompts. The firm said staff had reached the target for Microsoft Copilot prompts four months ahead of schedule. The extra money will be shared by all eligible staff in the end-of-year bonus, which is contingent on the firm reaching certain financial metrics.

It is being heralded as the first time that a law firm has directly awarded bonuses based on the adoption of AI.

Shoosmiths stresses that as the Copilot tool is not legally trained, it does not perform tasks involving legal training or expertise. Instead, it is used in all job roles in checking emails for quality and clarity prior to sending, summarising, analysing and researching.

David Jackson, Shoosmiths chief executive, said: ‘Hitting this milestone ahead of schedule showcases our people’s commitment and enthusiasm to embrace change and create a new benchmark for what client service looks like. AI is an incredibly powerful enabler—it helps us work smarter and deliver greater value for clients, freeing our people to focus on human-to-human work at the heart of client services.’

Earlier this year, Shoosmiths announced that all 1,300 eligible employees would receive a 5% salary bonus for 2024/25 after profit per equity partner exceeded £1m for the first time, a 30% increase on the previous year. Net profit increased by 16% to £76.6m and revenue rose by 5% to £217.2m.

 

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