Exploring the growing appetite for legal AI with LexisNexis
Our recent report, Lawyers cross into the new era of generative AI, demonstrates a rapid increase in the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). The report shows adoption rates have more than doubled in the past six months alone, with 26% of lawyers now regularly using generative AI tools, compared to just 11% in a comparable survey from July 2023.
This upward trend looks likely to continue. More than a third (35%) of lawyers suggested they plan to use AI in the future. In particular, in-house lawyers professed a strong appetite, with more than two-fifths (42%) alluding to plans to incorporate AI into legal work.
It’s not just AI adoption that’s increased. Our report also showed that 65% of lawyers felt increasingly confident using AI platforms grounded on legal research, especially when using AI tools built on trusted legal content sources, such as Lexis+ AI. The overall perception of AI has shifted and, in the future, the appetite for adoption is expected to continue to grow.
In this article, we look at the key takeaways from the report and track the accelerated adoption of AI across the legal industry. We explore, among other things, how lawyers are preparing for AI, the demand for AI accountability, and how AI will impact future pricing models.
Lawyers gear up for generative AI
The appetite for generative AI in law is unprecedented, with lawyers from across the sector embracing the tech. As mentioned above, more than a quarter of lawyers now regularly use AI. Academic institutions and large law firms also proved to be eager to use such tools, at 33% and 32% respectively.
Future plans show more enthusiasm. Only 39% of lawyers in our report had no plans to use generative AI, a noticeable decrease from 61% in July 2023.
This represents a massive shift, especially in a typically risk-averse sector. On top of that, we’re witnessing firms launching AI-powered products for both external and internal use. For example, Macfarlanes has introduced various generative AI tools to its team with high engagement rates, particularly with younger employees, such as junior lawyers, trainees, and paralegals.
Our report shows that the main use cases for AI in 2024 are document drafting (91%), legal research (90%), and comms (73%). There remains a strong demand to integrate AI into pre-existing platforms too, with lawyers preferring contract analysis tools (56%) and case management platforms (50%). This shows the sector is not simply talking about AI, they’re increasingly putting it into practice.
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The demand for accountable AI
Most lawyers are optimistic about the benefits of AI. But our report showed a justified note of caution, especially towards opaque platforms, ones that are trained on insufficient inputs and lacking human oversight. Only 10% of respondents had no concerns about using AI. Most (59%) admitted some concerns, while over a quarter revealed significant (26%) concerns. The findings were almost identical to July 2023. This means while adoption has accelerated, the concerns remain the same.
These being:
- Hallucinations – 57%
- Security – 55%
- Untrustworthy tech – 55%
However, such concerns were largely reserved for irresponsible, opaque AI platforms. Responsible AI platforms, such as Lexis+ AI, received less hostility. As above, 65% would feel confident using AI platforms grounded on legal content sources, with hallucination-free, linked citations. Medium- and large-sized firms were most comfortable using such tools.
How will AI impact pricing models
A conflict exists around generative AI and impact pricing. Our report found that over half (52%) of in-house teams and lawyers expect bills to reduce due to generative AI. Respondents from law firms seemed less convinced, with only 40% suggesting they expected bills to be reduced. This is a problem. Most in-house lawyers expect cost reductions when most lawyers do not.
The conflict also impacts billing practices. More than three-fifths (62%) of in-house teams expect law firms to change billing practices because of generative AI. But less than one-fifth (18%) of law firms said they’ll make changes to billing practices, despite more than two-fifths (42%) believing it would reduce the overall costs for their firm. In essence, as explored in detail in our report, the conflict exists over who will benefit from the cost reduction provided by generative AI.
The resolution of the above conflicts will depend on the ways lawyers use AI. The next few months and years will see huge changes, especially as lawyers continue to rapidly adopt this evolving technology, learn how to effectively utilitse it, and grow in confidence. Firms and in-house teams will soon settle with the tech and have a greater quantitative understanding of cost reductions. At that point, once the potential is better understood, market forces should largely resolve conflicts around pricing.
Unlock our report, Lawyers cross into the new era of generative AI, today and reveal our full findings.
