2024 Report
State of AI
in Legal
The first comprehensive independent survey of AI usage, adoption, and sentiments in the legal industry.
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Executive summary
The State of AI in Legal Report is a double opt-in survey commissioned by Ironclad and carried out by the independent research firm OnePoll. The report, which surveyed 800 American attorneys and legal operations professionals—evenly split between law firms and in-house roles—explores adoption rates, sentiment, and top use cases for artificial intelligence in the legal field.
This report aims to provide a lay of the land of how your legal peers are thinking about AI: where they’re comfortable using it, their biggest fears, how they’re approaching its regulation, and more. Use these findings to help inform thinking about your own AI strategy, and what will work best for your organization.
The State of AI in Legal Report is a double opt-in survey commissioned by Ironclad and carried out by the independent research firm OnePoll. The report, which surveyed 800 American attorneys and legal operations professionals—evenly split between law firms and in-house roles—explores adoption rates, sentiment, and top use cases for artificial intelligence in the legal field.
This report aims to provide a lay of the land of how your legal peers are thinking about AI: where they’re comfortable using it, their biggest fears, how they’re approaching its regulation, and more. Use these findings to help inform thinking about your own AI strategy, and what will work best for your organization.
74%
of legal professionals use AI for legal work
92%
of legal professionals who use AI tools say it’s improved their work
57%
of legal professionals who feel dissatisfied at work said using AI could alleviate it
Key findings
- Lawyers are generally trusting of AI and actively using it, citing improvement in quality of work
- In-house legal teams are further along when it comes to AI, while law firms are more apprehensive
- AI could help address legal burnout
- Most lawyers are optimistic about AI—and believe regulation will help
- Top areas where AI is most useful include tagging metadata and flagging risky clauses in contracts
In addition to these and other findings, the report includes detailed data and visualizations.
- Lawyers are generally trusting of AI and actively using it, citing improvement in quality of work
- In-house legal teams are further along when it comes to AI, while law firms are more apprehensive
- AI could help address legal burnout
- Most lawyers are optimistic about AI—and believe regulation will help
- Top areas where AI is most useful include tagging metadata and flagging risky clauses in contracts
In addition to these and other findings, the report includes detailed data and visualizations.
“The easiest and fastest way to get buy-in for AI is to use it for something that you hate doing.”
Charlene Barone
Director of Legal Operations, The New York Times
