Underwrite this in partner hours and write-offs, using your own rates. Count the hours partners and senior counsel spent last month answering "where do I log this" and "can we take this client" - all non-billable, all billed at zero - then add the write-offs that traced back to compliance rework and the intake days lost to conflict-check friction. That is the recurring bill this system is built to shrink. The mechanism is routing: routine questions resolve instantly from the firm's own policies with a citation, ethics exceptions reach the designated partner with matter context attached, and every interaction is logged so utilization reporting reflects reality. Set the targets as stated assumptions before you sign - fewer partner interruptions, faster intake cycles, write-offs falling on compliance-related rework - then hold the system to them against your own baseline.
The return compounds through the first year. Every answer a partner approves becomes firm precedent the system reuses, so the escalation share falls month over month. Junior staff stop learning firm policy through hallway networks, which tightens consistency and shrinks the institutional-knowledge risk when experienced staff leave. And the monthly dashboards show exactly which practice groups keep asking which questions - so training investment goes where the confusion actually lives.