Shoosmiths has hit its target for one million Microsoft Copilot prompts ahead of schedule, triggering an extra £1 million for its firmwide bonus pool.
The target was set in April as part of the firm’s decision to link bonuses directly to AI usage, an unusual incentive scheme.
Shoosmiths has reached its firmwide goal of one million Microsoft Copilot prompts ahead of schedule, a milestone that unlocks an additional £1 million for the firm’s collective bonus pool if it also hits its core financial target.
The AI target was announced in April as part of an unusual incentive scheme linking firmwide bonuses directly to AI usage across the business.
When Shoosmiths first unveiled the scheme, the focus was as much on what it symbolised as on how it would work in practice. Counting prompts felt like a blunt way of measuring impact, at a point when many firms were still treating AI as something to test rather than bake into routine work.
Shoosmiths draws the line
Shoosmiths is explicit that Copilot is not being used for tasks requiring legal expertise. Instead, the firm describes it as a tool for handling the non-legal work that sits around client matters, from checking emails for clarity and summarising documents to research support, ideation and meeting management.
The firm describes the benefits of AI as "boosted efficiency" giving lawyers "time back to devote to clients". Firm leader David Jackson said AI is a "powerful enabler" and supports the firm’s focus on "human-to-human work".
For now, many firms are still taking a measured approach to using AI for substantive legal work. Tools are widely used for drafting support, summarising and admin tasks, but are less embedded in areas that involve legal judgement.
That caution reflects regulatory risk and ongoing questions about how AI should be deployed in judgement-led work. The broader pattern is one of gradual integration, with AI becoming more visible across everyday workflows, at least for now. The bigger question is when, and in what form, that boundary begins to shift.
Putting money on adoption
Other firms including Clifford Chance, Linklaters and A&O Shearman have invested heavily in AI tools and training, but most have stopped short of tying adoption directly to pay.
US firm Ropes & Gray has gone furthest in this direction, allowing junior lawyers to spend up to 20% of their billable time on AI training and experimentation. Even so, Shoosmiths’ approach remains unusual in attaching a clear cash value to AI adoption.
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