Highlights
- 87% of legal professionals expect AI centrality, yet only 40% of organizations currently use it.
- Legal departments lag in AI adoption while other corporate functions advance with technology integration.
- 82% of legal departments fail to measure AI ROI, creating strategic blind spots for investment decisions.
How the latest research reveals the gap between AI ambition and execution—and what that means for your department’s future
The numbers don’t lie, but they might surprise you. While 87% of legal professionals believe generative AI will be central to their workflow within five years, only 40% of organizations are actually using it today. Even more telling? A staggering 82% of legal departments either don’t measure AI’s return on investment or aren’t sure if they do.
This disconnect between expectation and execution isn’t just an interesting data point—it’s a wake-up call for corporate legal departments that are still sitting on the sidelines.
Jump to ↓
The early adopter window is closing
What’s actually working (and what isn’t)
The measurement problem nobody wants to talk about
The strategic imperative for corporate legal
The early adopter window is closing
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: if your legal department hasn’t started experimenting with AI tools, you’re already behind. The latest research from Thomson Reuters shows that the chance to be an AI early adopter has come and gone. We’re now in the phase where organizations are moving from exploration to strategic implementation.
“All other departments of a corporation develop and become more modern while the legal and finance departments are always stuck in the past,” observed one Swedish corporate general counsel in the study. “We cannot keep up with the modern-day corporations’ demands unless we also develop and adapt our way of working.”
This sentiment reflects a broader reality: legal departments are under increasing pressure to do more with less, while other business functions race ahead with technological adoption. The question isn’t whether AI will transform legal work—it’s whether your department will lead that transformation or be dragged along by it.
What’s actually working (and what isn’t)
The research reveals some fascinating patterns about how legal professionals are using AI today. Among those currently using these tools, more than 80% report using them at least weekly. The most common applications? Legal research tops the list at 80%, followed by document review at 74% and document summarization at 73%.
But here’s where it gets interesting: while individual professionals are embracing these tools for internal work, there’s a significant disconnect between corporate legal departments and their outside law firms when it comes to AI usage on client matters.
The data shows that 54% of corporate legal respondents believe their outside firms should use AI, yet less than 20% are actually mandating its use through guidelines or RFPs. This creates a confusing dynamic where 40% of law firm professionals report receiving conflicting direction from different clients—some wanting AI use, others explicitly prohibiting it.
“Firms are reluctant—they claim it would compromise quality and fidelity. I think they are threatened by it,” noted one US corporate chief legal officer. “The quality still needs to be checked, and the human beings should still be responsible for the quality just as any junior associate work would need to be carefully reviewed by someone more experienced. But they should use it.”
The measurement problem nobody wants to talk about
Perhaps the most concerning finding in the research is how few organizations are actually measuring AI’s impact. Only 18% of respondents say their organizations collect metrics around AI return on investment. Among those that do measure, most focus on internal metrics like cost savings and employee usage rather than business-focused outcomes like client satisfaction or new business generation.
This measurement gap creates a dangerous blind spot. How can legal departments make informed decisions about AI investments if they don’t know what success looks like? How can they justify budget requests or demonstrate value to business stakeholders?
The organizations that are measuring AI impact tend to focus on easily quantifiable metrics—time saved, tasks automated, costs reduced. But the real value of AI in legal work often lies in harder-to-measure areas: better research quality, more comprehensive analysis, reduced risk exposure, improved client service.
The agentic AI wave is coming
While most legal departments are still figuring out basic generative AI applications, a new wave of technology is already on the horizon. Agentic AI—systems that can autonomously complete multi-step tasks—represents the next evolution in legal technology.
Currently, only 15% of legal organizations use agentic AI tools, but an additional 53% are in planning or consideration phases. These systems promise to move beyond simple question-and-answer interactions to actually completing complex workflows with minimal human oversight.
“Agentic AI models represent a great opportunity to automate work, improve accuracy, and do more with less,” explained one Australian corporate CFO. “There are risks of misuse or misunderstanding, but I feel like CFOs must have felt in the ’60s when computer-based accounting was introduced.”
The strategic imperative for corporate legal
The research makes clear that successful AI adoption requires more than just buying tools and hoping for the best. Organizations with formal AI strategies are more than three times more likely to realize positive ROI compared to those without strategic approaches.
For corporate legal departments, this means moving beyond ad hoc experimentation to thoughtful planning. It means having conversations with outside counsel about AI expectations and guidelines. It means establishing metrics to measure impact and success. Most importantly, it means recognizing that AI adoption is not just a technology decision—it’s a strategic business decision.
The legal departments that thrive in the next five years will be those that embrace AI as a tool for transformation, not just efficiency. They’ll use these technologies to elevate the strategic value they provide to their organizations, freeing up time from routine tasks to focus on high-impact legal counsel and business partnership.
The path forward
The window for casual AI experimentation is closing. Legal departments need to move from asking “Should we use AI?” to “How do we use AI strategically?” This shift requires honest assessment of current capabilities, clear goal-setting for AI initiatives, and systematic measurement of results.
The organizations that make this transition successfully won’t just keep pace with business demands—they’ll help define what the future of corporate legal work looks like.
Ready to see where your legal department stands in the AI transformation?
Download the complete 2026 AI in Professional Services Report
Discover now ↗
