More than six in 10 — 61% — of the more than 700 U.K. lawyers who responded to a LexisNexis Legal & Professional survey in August said they now use generative AI for their work. This is up sharply from 46% when a similar study was carried out in January. The proportion of those with no plans to use AI dropped from 15% to just 6% over the same period.
Just over half of respondents — 51% — use AI tools built specifically for legal work, such as Lexis+ AI. Some 27% use legal AI tools exclusively and 24% use them alongside a general AI tool.
Stuart Greenhill, senior director of segment management at LexisNexis U.K., said lawyers are proving that AI delivers clear commercial returns.
"They're using it to increase billable hours, rethink pricing models and deliver more value to clients," Greenhill said. "Firms that treat AI as a strategic investment, not just an efficiency tool, will gain a decisive edge in profitability and client satisfaction."
Fifty-six percent of private practice lawyers who participated in the latest survey said they spend the time saved by using AI to increase their billable hours. A slightly smaller proportion, 53%, said they use it to enjoy a better work-life balance.
Respondents also said that they use the time saved to build stronger client relationships, focus on personal development, invest in team development and chase new business.
But the survey indicates that many lawyers feel they are being held back by the slow-moving corporate culture of the organizations they work for. Firms that fail to invest in AI risk seeing legal talent leave, according to the survey.
Almost one in five respondents — 18% — from private practice and 19% of those who work in-house said they would consider leaving their organization if it failed to invest in AI. Just over a quarter of those who work at large law firms said the same.
Some 39% of private practice lawyers and 49% of in-house lawyers said that a failure to engage with AI would harm their careers.
The survey highlights a disconnect between the concerns of lawyers and the steps their organization has taken to adopt AI.
Less than a fifth — 17% — of respondents said AI is "embedded in their strategy and operations," while 19% reported interest but little investment. Nine percent cited resistance or fear as a factor, and another 9% said AI isn't discussed at all. The most common response was that people were experimenting, but progress was slow, cited by 39%.
Just under a quarter of respondents said their employer had provided them with appropriate training to use AI safely, the survey found. Only 28% reported that their organization has an AI policy that is easy to understand and follow. This figure rises to 37% for those working in-house and 45% for those working at large law firms.
"AI is no longer a future consideration but a present-day expectation," Candice Donnelly, director of corporate in Skyscanner's legal team, said of the survey results. "While a company may have seen AI as a novelty or a box-ticking exercise, now a legal function expects access to an AI tool that enables it to focus increasingly on high-value, judgment-driven work."
--Editing by Kathleen Hennessy.
À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ is owned by LexisNexis Legal & Professional, a RELX company.
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