AI adoption for transactional firms has moved from a competitive advantage to a competitive necessity
Highlights
- Transactional law firms without an AI strategy face a significant competitive disadvantage, as 31% of organizations currently have no adoption plans and risk being outpaced by early adopters.
- AI adoption delivers substantial ROI, with firms 3.5 times more likely to see critical benefits. It can also reduce contract review time by up to 80% for greater efficiency and quality.
- Implementing AI is now essential for meeting client expectations with faster, tech-enabled service.
The transactional law profession has never been more demanding. Clients expect faster turnarounds on complex deals, regulatory compliance requirements continue to multiply, and fee pressures intensify while transaction volumes surge. Against this backdrop, aggressive deadlines and client expectations stretch many firms thin as they struggle to maintain quality.
The firms thriving in this environment have recognized that AI isn’t just another technology trend to monitor. It’s the foundation for sustainable competitive positioning in an increasingly complex market.
Yet according to the recent Thomson Reuters Future of Professionals report, a staggering 31% of organizations have no significant AI adoption plans. Our research shows these firms risk being left behind within a matter of years as competitors leverage AI to enhance their operations and service delivery.
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Meeting new client expectations
The future of transactional legal work
The time-savings opportunity
Our report shows legal professionals using AI expect to free 240 hours annually — that’s six full weeks of billable time per attorney. With reclaimed hours, transactional attorneys can redirect their expertise toward the strategic counsel clients value most. This means more time for complex deal structuring, sophisticated risk analysis, and creative problem-solving that distinguishes exceptional legal counsel from commodity services.
Every month without an AI strategy cuts away at your firm’s productivity, while competitors reinvest those efficiency gains into client acquisition, talent retention, and service enhancement.
Unlocking real ROI
AI-adopting firms are creating a measurable and growing competitive divide against those without strategies. Report data shows organizations with visible AI strategies are 3.5 times more likely to experience critical benefits compared to those without plans. For transactional practices, this could mean being twice as likely to see revenue growth directly tied to AI adoption.
This ROI creates multiple benefits:
- AI-powered contract analysis can reduce review time by 60-80%, allowing firms to handle higher transaction volumes without proportional increases in staffing costs
- Document review and summarization enable consistent, high-quality work product while reducing the risk of human error in complex transactions
- Advanced due diligence tools can identify potential issues that manual review might miss, adding genuine value that clients recognize and pay for
If AI enables your firm to complete transactions faster while maintaining quality, you can handle more deals with existing resources or deliver the same volume with improved margins. Either scenario creates a sustainable competitive advantage that compounds over time.
Meeting new client expectations
Transactional clients no longer view AI as a nice-to-have — they expect it. Our report reveals that 88% of professionals favor having profession-specific AI assistants, signaling a fundamental shift in how legal work should be delivered. AI-powered tools allow law firms to provide faster contract reviews, more comprehensive due diligence, and real-time regulatory compliance monitoring.
Solutions like CoCounsel Legal are designed specifically for legal work, enabling attorneys to review documents, research complex legal questions, and draft legal content with unprecedented speed and accuracy. It is backed by the full power of CoCounsel, the professional-grade AI assistant that accompanies users from task to task. Delivering comprehensive contract analysis in minutes rather than hours provides major boosts to your client relationships.
CoCounsel enables attorneys to become significantly more responsive to client needs, as Ted Schaer, Chairman of Litigation at Zarwin Baum has seen.
What CoCounsel has allowed us to do is efficiently manage massive amounts of data and become more responsive to our clients’ needs, in a timelier fashion. I’m getting back to my clients faster, with more concise and cogent responses.
Chairman of Litigation, Zarwin Baum
Recruiting the best talent
Modern legal professionals — particularly those entering transactional practice — actively seek organizations that encourage advanced technology use. Report data shows 69% of professionals want leaders who consistently lead by example when introducing changes. These leaders deliver outstanding work, identify opportunities others miss, and bring inventive approaches to client challenges.
The best transactional attorneys, especially those with the technical skills to handle complex modern deals, recognize that AI proficiency isn’t just about efficiency. It’s about career development and staying relevant in an evolving profession. Without a visible AI strategy, you could lose your future leaders to competitors who offer more innovative environments.
The future of transactional legal work
Early AI adopters in transactional work are demonstrating faster deal completion, more comprehensive risk identification, improved regulatory compliance, and better client satisfaction. Beyond keeping pace with shifting client expectations, they’re setting new standards for what sophisticated legal counsel looks like.
Legal professionals can lead that transformation or watch from behind as competitors capture market share, top talent, and premium clients. Those that act decisively now can still establish themselves as leaders in the AI-enabled future of transactional law.
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