Ballard Spahr saves $2 million in unplanned losses and cuts research time 60% with Neudesic and Azure OpenAI

National law firm Ballard Spahr wanted to streamline preparation of research-intensive proposals and reduce nonbillable hours with the power of AI.

Ballard Spahr worked with Neudesic to create Ballard X-Ray, a large-scale repository and interactive agent powered by Azure OpenAI. The firm also launched Ask Ellis, a custom chatbot that helps craft communications with pre-built prompts.

The firm is saving an estimated $2 million in unplanned losses and lifted the administrative burden on lawyers and staff, cutting proposal preparation time by approximately two hours per proposal and decreasing nonbillable research time by 60%.

Ballard Spahr, a national law firm specializing in high-stakes intellectual property litigation, is leading the AI transformation of legal services with a custom suite of AI solutions developed with Microsoft partner Neudesic and powered by Microsoft Azure solution Azure OpenAI.

Ballard Spahr’s lawyers and staff have saved an estimated $2 million in unplanned losses with AI solutions Ask Ellis and Ballard X-Ray. Built on the trusted Microsoft Cloud, these tools combine secure infrastructure with cutting-edge generative AI—designed for compliance-first industries like legal. The firm has decreased its time spent responding to requests for proposals (RFPs) by two hours per RFP and cut research time by an astonishing 60%.

Embracing AI to streamline research and craft communications

Legal teams dedicate significant amounts of time to crafting data-driven proposals for potential clients, contributing to lengthy research and many nonbillable hours for lawyers and staff. Decreasing nonbillable hours is a valuable way of increasing attorney efficiency and, by extension, profitability.

Ballard Spahr is pioneering the use of AI for legal services. Its visionary Technology Innovation team, led by Lisa Mayo Haynes, Director of Technology Innovation, recognized AI’s potential to enhance client communications and give lawyers more time to focus on value-added tasks.

“We want to use AI in a safe way that keeps our data and our clients’ data confidential and makes sense for our firm,” says Haynes.

Haynes’s team and Ballard Spahr attorneys identified use cases where generative AI could streamline administrative and research tasks. The firm turned to longtime ally Neudesic, a global professional services firm and a Microsoft partner, to prioritize AI applications that would lift lawyers’ administrative burdens, such as writing emails and conducting proposal research.

“We want to use AI in a safe way that keeps our data and our clients’ data confidential and makes sense for our firm.”

Lisa Mayo Haynes, Director of Technology Innovation, Ballard Spahr

Saving an estimated $2 million with custom AI solutions

To cut nonbillable hours and unlock faster RFP turnaround, Ballard Spahr and Neudesic built two custom AI tools, saving the firm an estimated $2 million in unplanned losses. Ask Ellis is a generative AI–driven chatbot that harnesses Azure OpenAI and Azure AI Services to help lawyers and staff draft emails and other communications.

Ballard X-Ray, a large-scale cloud-based repository, stores and searches thousands of documents in support of RFPs that can bring in new clients. “We can take up to 2,500 documents per individual X-Ray and give it to a lawyer or a client to easily locate specific documents in that data set,” says Haynes. “Then, they can chat with Ballard X-Ray using the chat capabilities of Azure OpenAI.”

Partners and business professionals are saving up to two hours of time per proposal and reducing research time by 60%. “These tools have really given us an advantage over other firms,” says Haynes. “We jumped on AI early, and our partnership with Microsoft and Neudesic enabled us to hit the ground running with our projects.”

“Previously, if a lawyer spent 10 hours searching for information, they could not charge the client for that. Now, their profitability is rising because they do not have as many unplanned losses.”

Lisa Mayo Haynes, Director of Technology Innovation, Ballard Spahr

Generating proposals in days instead of weeks

Ballard Spahr’s long-standing culture of innovation is spurring widespread employee adoption of these AI solutions. Ballard X-Ray slashed the RFP response times from weeks to days, empowering the firm’s lawyers and staff to respond to new opportunities more quickly and reduce nonbillable hours.

“Previously, if a lawyer spent 10 hours searching for information, they could not charge the client for that,” says Haynes. “Now, their profitability is rising because they do not have as many unplanned losses.”

“Microsoft brought the technology, Ballard Spahr brought the progressive ideals, and Neudesic brought the AI expertise to really make it all possible.”

Kunaal Kapoor, Global Chief Growth Officer, Neudesic

Laying the foundation for future AI innovation

Ballard Spahr’s AI approach is empowering its workforce and offering a blueprint for other legal firms. “Our next step in our AI journey is creating intelligent agents that further streamline workflows, allowing our partners to focus on delivering top-tier legal expertise,” says Haynes.

The unique collaboration between Ballard Spahr, Neudesic, and Microsoft is at the heart of these innovative solutions. “Microsoft brought the technology, Ballard Spahr brought the progressive ideals, and Neudesic brought the AI expertise to really make it all possible,” says Kunaal Kapoor, Global Chief Growth Officer at Neudesic.

Discover more about Ballard Spahr on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X/Twitter.