Gen AI adoption surges among in-house legal teams, research reveals
Fresh findings from a joint study by FTI Consulting and legaltech firm Relativity show that 87% of general counsel now deploy Gen AI within their teams. This is a striking rise from 44% recorded in the equivalent report twelve months ago. Close to two-fifths of respondents also identified AI as a strategic priority in driving departmental efficiency.
Summarisation has emerged as the dominant use case, with 83% of GCs reporting that their teams either use or are actively experimenting with the technology for that purpose. General research queries followed at 70%, with meeting transcription at 67% and contract clause identification at 63%. Comfort levels with more sensitive applications remain considerably lower: only 23% of respondents expressed strong confidence in using Gen AI for contract drafting, dropping to 20% for contract review and analysis, and 13% for memo writing. Privilege review, investigations and data breach response were cited as the areas where in-house lawyers feel least at ease delegating to AI.
Sophie Ross (PICTURED LEFT), global chief executive of FTI Technology, noted that – as reported by The Global Legal Post – generative AI has now become standard infrastructure across most legal departments, with those yet to adopt it largely in the process of planning near-term deployment. She stressed that structured upskilling, formal training programmes and clearly defined technology roadmaps would be essential to harness the technology effectively while managing associated risks.
The pace of institutional readiness is also accelerating. The proportion of legal departments operating with a formal technology roadmap has climbed to 53%, compared with just 25% last year, while 70% intend to commit fresh investment to new technologies in the year ahead. The expansion of dedicated legal operations functions — now present in 41% of departments versus 29% a year ago — further underscores the professionalisation of in-house tech strategy.
David Horrigan (PICTURED RIGHT), discovery counsel and legal education director at Relativity, declared the era of the technophobe lawyer firmly at an end, pointing to a meaningful evolution in chief legal officers’ relationship with digital tools over the seven years the report has been running. He highlighted the emergence of so-called “digital ambassadors” within legal departments — a trend also noted by chief information officers surveyed this year — as evidence that a new archetype of tech-fluent lawyer is taking shape.
The report draws on one-to-one interviews with 30 chief legal officers alongside a quantitative survey of over 200 general counsel spanning twelve countries.
