Why AI Could Turn Small Law Firms Into Billion-Dollar Businesses

a16z’s Alex Rampell and EVE CEO Jay Madejwaran explain how EVE’s legal AI turns plaintiff law from labor-constrained work into an outcome-driven, software-like business. They argue AI can expand access to legal help, let small firms manage 5x more cases, and reshape adversarial workflows as agents handle intake, research, negotiation, and settlement.

Key points

• Plaintiff firms are constrained by labor, not demand; many reject cases because they can’t economically staff them.
• EVE handles intake-to-settlement workflows, letting one LA firm scale from 100 to 500 clients per attorney.
• AI is framed as revenue expansion, not cost cutting: more cases handled means more legal revenue.
• EVE uses firm-specific data plus case outcomes to improve decisions, while keeping attorney-client data private.
• Long-horizon agent workflows can generate 10,000+ back-and-forths per case and gradually reduce human touches.
• The speakers expect more outcome-based pricing and more agent-to-agent negotiation across the legal system.