In this episode of Legal Late Night, we’re proving that math isn’t just for people who didn’t go to law school. I’m joined by Mathew Kerbis, the mastermind behind Practi.ai, to discuss why the billable hour is a “hamster wheel” that’s officially running out of track in the 2020s.
Most attorneys went to law school specifically to avoid math. We’re the “Gerald Ford in an SNL sketch” profession—whenever a spreadsheet appears, we object on the grounds of “I was told there would be none.” However, if you want to run a successful business, you have to embrace what I call “covert math.”
This breaks down into three specific buckets:
Business Math: Whether it’s M&A share retention or estate tax implications, you have to grasp the formulas yourself. Offloading this to a junior associate is a competency trap you don’t want to fall into.
Data Analytics: KPIs are just math in disguise. Moving from “gut feelings” to tracking your intake-to-disposition ratios is the difference between a village outside Peoria and a well-oiled legal machine.
The Budgeting Block: Most firms operate with a “dumpster fire” budget. If you understand your overhead, you know exactly where your profit line begins. It’s the “American Pie” rule of three—know your costs, set your price, and find your volume.
Our guest, Mathew Kerbis—known to his fraternity brothers as “Math” (with one ‘T’)—didn’t start out wanting to be a technologist. A philosophy major who loved symbolic logic, Mathew realized early on that billing by the hour at an insurance defense firm was a recipe for misery.
“I distinctly remember a moment where I was working 0.3 on a phone call with my dad and thinking, ‘What has my life become?'” Mathew says. That existential crisis led to the birth of the Subscription Attorney LLC and eventually his new venture, Practi.ai.
Mathew describes Practi.ai as “Shopify for solo and small law firms.” It’s an e-commerce platform built specifically for the legal industry, avoiding the ethical pitfalls of fee-splitting while providing a seamless checkout experience for clients.
In a “Legal Late Night” first, we did a double-feature trivia swap. Mathew grilled Jared on the history of the billable hour (fun fact: it was popularized in the 1970s, back when the ABA suggested only 1,300 billable hours a year—a simpler, more hydrated time).
In return, I subjected Mathew to “Unknowable Insatiable Cravings”—a series of philosophical debates inspired by his “hotdog is a sandwich” stance. We tackled the big questions:
As Mathew points out, if you’re a technologist struggling to sell AI to law firms because it’s “reducing their billable hours,” you’re selling to the wrong model. The future is subscription-based, and the future is here.
Ready to stop selling your life by the 0.1? Get your free account at Practi.ai today. Be sure to visit Legal Broadcasting Company often for our latest podcasts. If your law firm needs a “perfect reset,” contact Red Cave Law Firm Consulting.
Efficiency becomes a liability. If AI helps you finish a task in 10 minutes that used to take 2 hours, you are literally losing money by being better at your job. Subscriptions and flat fees align your profit with your efficiency.
Mathew is living proof. With the advancements in Google Docs, Gemini, and e-signature integrations, many solo and small firms can ditch the legacy “Microsoft/Adobe” tax and run a leaner, cloud-native practice.
It starts with a mindset shift. You aren’t selling time; you’re selling access and judgment. Start by “productizing” your most common tasks into flat-fee offerings to see how your market responds.
