§ Benchmarks · August 2026

What things cost and how long they take, with the source next to each one.

Every figure we cite anywhere on this site, collected, attributed and dated. Free to quote with a link. If a number here is wrong or has moved, tell us and we will correct it.

Read the provenance column. Several of these come from vendor-published reports with an interest in the answer. That does not make them wrong, and it does mean they should be attributed to the vendor rather than laundered into "research shows". We have marked which is which.

Records and document work

The largest single cost in a plaintiff practice that nobody invoices for.

Metric	Figure	Detail	Source
Outsourced review, 1,200-page file	~$4,500	Roughly $3.75 a page for that scenario. Rush work costs more.	RapidCare Vendor report
Records retrieval fees	$0.25 – $1.00+ / page	Statutory, and varies by state. California at the low end; Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania above a dollar.	Codes Health Vendor report
Firms outsourcing records review	47.4%	Cited as a response to complexity rather than cost.	Codes Health Vendor report
US records retrieval market	$1.1bn	Projected for 2026.	Codes Health Market figure
Chronology, routine treating file	1 – 1.5 days	Reported by firms. Provider count and legibility drive it more than page count.	Practitioner reports Industry survey
Chronology, several providers	3 – 4 days	A year of records across six providers is the common shape.	Practitioner reports Industry survey

Capacity and turnaround

The constraint most firms have never written down.

Metric	Figure	Detail	Source
Firms at or beyond capacity	75%	Plaintiff-specific.	Supio Vendor report
Volume regularly exceeds team	42%	The stronger version of the same question.	Supio Vendor report
Firms needing a week+ for a demand	57%	Writing is two to three hours of that. The rest is assembly.	Supio Vendor report

Trust in AI output

The barrier plaintiff firms name, which is not price.

Metric	Figure	Detail	Source
Will not use output they cannot verify	99%	The most consistent finding in the plaintiff data.	Supio Vendor report
Concerned by missing source attribution	96%	Very or extremely concerned.	Supio Vendor report
Reject fully autonomous AI	79%	Require lawyer review of every output.	Supio Vendor report
Rank accuracy and traceability equally	71%	Ahead of faster drafting or caseload relief.	Supio Vendor report

AI adoption and governance

Individual use has outrun anything institutional.

Metric	Figure	Detail	Source
Legal professionals using general AI	69%	Up from 31% the previous year.	8am / ABA Industry survey
Firms adopting legal-specific AI	34%	Against 46% for general-purpose tools.	8am / ABA Industry survey
Firms with no AI policy and no plans	43%	Only 9% have a written, actively enforced one.	8am / ABA Industry survey
Barrier: data security	46%	Ahead of ethics at 42% and trust in results at 39%.	8am / ABA Industry survey

AI sanctions

What happens when output reaches a filing unverified.

Metric	Figure	Detail	Source
Court decisions involving hallucinated material	~1,490	Worldwide, as of May 2026. More than 1,000 in the US.	Charlotin database Court record
Decisions involving licensed attorneys	~496	The remainder involved self-represented parties.	Charlotin database Court record
Sanctions issued, Q1 2026	~$145,000	In three months.	ComplexDiscovery Court record
Largest single-attorney aggregate	$109,700	Oregon.	ComplexDiscovery Court record
Steepest federal appellate sanction	$30,000	Sixth Circuit, over two dozen fabricated citations.	Norton Rose Fulbright Court record

Case acquisition

The spread between channels is larger than the spread within any of them.

Metric	Figure	Detail	Source
Signed case, paid search	$1,700 – $3,300	Personal injury toward the top of the range.	Published industry figures Market figure
Conversion lift, response inside a minute	391%	Against slower replies. Treat the precise multiple with suspicion; the direction is consistent.	Published industry figures Market figure

What software costs

Our own numbers, published for the same reason as everything above.

Metric	Figure	Detail	Source
One workflow, custom built	$60k – $90k	Typically $75,000, about six weeks, fixed price.	Thrive Development Vendor report
Keeping software working	15 – 25% / year	Published benchmark for software maintenance generally, not specific to legal.	Industry benchmark Market figure
Tech E&O insurance, developer	~$74 – 87 / month	Bundled with cyber, around $111 a month or $1,330 a year.	Insureon, MoneyGeek Vendor report

Sources

Where a row says "practitioner reports" or "published industry figures", the number is a range we have heard consistently rather than a single citable study, and it is marked that way deliberately. Do not quote those as though they were measured.

Using this

Quote any of it. A link back is enough.

We collected these because we needed them and there was nowhere to point at. If you are writing something and want a figure checked, or you have a better source for one of these, email contact@thrivedevelopment.io and we will update the page and say who corrected it.

Not ready to book a call

Send us five pages of a record set. We will send back what we found in it.

Five pages is enough, redacted however you like. You get a short video back within two business days showing what a chronology would surface from it: the dates, the gaps, the things worth knowing before the other side finds them.

Send five pages of a real file. Redact whatever you like first.
We run them and record what comes out, including what it misses.
You get the video within two business days. If there is nothing worth showing, we say so.

Book a free 30-minute call · Work out your own records figure