AI: A magic button for a law firm?
Six of the 10 lawyers use Generated Artificial Intelligence (Genai) for work purposes, with most of the rest planning to use it, new research found.
The small law firm also said it is twice as likely to “rely rely heavily on AI for his daily work.”
A majority of lawyers (56%) said they spent time saving time using AI to increase billable work, while most (53%) said they used it to enjoy a better work-life balance.
Other options were less popular, but they focused on building stronger client relationships (27%), investing in personal development, team development, or tracking new businesses (20%).
LexisNexis has collected responses from over 700 legal experts in the UK for its report. The conflict of AI culture.
There has been a “surge in” increase in the proportion of lawyers using Genai at work, from 46% in January this year to 61%. The percentage that they had no plans to use it fell from 15% to just 6%.
It was most likely that in-house corporate lawyers rely heavily on AI for their daily work, followed by small business and academic lawyers. Lawyers for large or medium-sized companies were near the bottom of the table at 7%, less than half of the small business figures.
When asked to explain their company's AI culture, lawyers are most likely to respond “I'm experimenting, but progress is slow.”
The next most popular response was “interesting, but little investment,” followed by a more positive view that “AI is embedded in strategy and operations.”
A few lawyers said “resist or fear around AI in their companies” or “we don't talk about AI at all.”
Three-quarters of lawyers were concerned that using AI would result in relying on inaccurate or manufactured information.
Other major concerns were leaking sensitive data and relying too much on AI at 47%.
However, LexisNexis argued that law firms that are lagging behind in hiring AI face “talent retention risks.”
Almost a fifth of respondents said they would consider quitting their law firm or internal legal department if they fail to invest in AI.
The proportion of lawyers who say AI will change the way law firms charged from 40% to 47% in January this year will vary from 37% to 55% for General Counsel.
The thinner majority (51%) used legal AI tools in the workplace, in contrast to the common AI tools, but this figure was 58% of those working in personal practice.
Stuart Greenhill, senior director of segment management at LexisNexis UK, commented: “Attorneys prove that AI offers clear commercial returns. They use it to reclaim the time they spent on historically common tasks, rethinking their pricing model and providing more value to their clients.
“Companies that treat AI as a strategic investment, not just an efficient tool, will gain a critical advantage in profitability and client satisfaction.”
