02 JUL 2026
Is AI making BD teams in law firms redundant?
Opportunities and limits of AI in law firms' pitch processes
When AI is now supposedly generating pitches and presentations at the touch of a button, the obvious conclusion seems to be that firms no longer need BD teams, and that lawyers could do the job themselves faster and more efficiently. Practice, however, tells a different story: in many firms, AI still plays barely any role in the pitch process. Presentations continue to be put together manually, content from old pitches is dug out, and references are compiled under time pressure – with high effort for everyone involved and a corresponding risk of error. Yet this is precisely where one of the greatest opportunities for the meaningful use of AI lies.
AI alone doesn't make a better pitch
The use of AI often focuses on drafting text and research. That works – but it doesn't solve the real problem: the bottleneck in the pitch process isn't the text, it's access to relevant content. The necessary pitch building blocks do exist within firms, but they're scattered and inconsistent. Without a structured, well-maintained data foundation, AI lacks the context it needs, so the results are often merely generic and the hoped-for efficiency gains fail to materialise.
Where AI actually helps
AI's greatest leverage lies in finding relevant content. The precondition is a structured data foundation: only then can AI analyse requirements, identify suitable references against clear criteria, and put together teams on a data-driven basis. Trust points such as rankings or awards can also be deployed in a targeted way. The difference is this: AI doesn't invent a pitch – it identifies what really matters.
Why it takes more than AI
Even where the content is correct, that alone doesn't produce a visually compelling pitch: firms work with complex PowerPoint master structures that AI cannot reliably handle. It generates text but doesn't consistently integrate it into design and layout requirements – so the manual effort remains.
Only systems such as LAWRENCE, which combine data and structure, solve this problem: they draw on centrally maintained content and link it to presentation logic. This allows pitches to be produced faster, more consistently and in an automated way.
Data sovereignty as the decisive factor
The focus within BD is shifting: away from writing, towards data. Firms need data managers, analysts and tech-savvy marketing professionals who can structure content and make it usable. Firms that capture their data in a structured way and make it centrally available gain in speed and precision.
The pitch is no longer produced under time pressure, but emerges from a system. Leading firms such as CMS, Poellath, Wolf Theiss, Lenz & Staehelin, Taylor Wessing, Schönherr and Dorda are already working with LAWRENCE on a data-driven basis. LAWRENCE Managing Director Gina-Maria Tondolo sums it up:
"AI is worthless if the data isn't right. That's why we focus first on making sure firm data is cleanly structured and immediately usable – only then can AI unfold its full power."
The future of the pitch is data-driven
AI will not replace the pitch process or BD teams – but it will fundamentally change them. It analyses requirements, delivers tailored suggestions and translates structured data into compelling narratives. What remains decisive, however, is access to the right content – and the ability to retrieve it in a targeted way and put it into meaningful context.