As 2025 attracts to a detailed, one theme has outlined the yr: Synthetic Intelligence (AI). Irrespective of the place you appeared or who you talked to, AI was entrance and middle, from CLE seminars and convention keynotes to information protection and trade stories.
For instance, the American Bar Affiliation not too long ago launched its “AI Task Force on Law and Artificial Intelligence Report.” This was the second in a sequence of stories addressing AI’s impression on the authorized career. The report coated a variety of floor, with subjects starting from AI adoption and its impression on entry to justice to how legislation faculties and the courts are approaching AI.
One in every of its key conclusions was that our career has reached a crossroads: AI adoption has surpassed understanding. Nearly all of authorized professionals now use AI however don’t totally recognize the sensible and moral challenges that come up when utilizing AI. In different phrases, because the report’s authors defined, “the dialog has shifted from whether or not to make use of the AI know-how to how to make use of it.”
Based on the report, authorized professionals proceed to perform comparatively easy duties with AI, akin to summarization, doc evaluation, drafting temporary paperwork, and issuing shopper alerts, moderately than extra advanced authorized work that includes confidential shopper data. This discovering aligns with the outcomes of the 8am 2026 Authorized Trade Report that I authored, and that will probably be launched this spring. That information reveals that AI implementation in legislation corporations focuses on routine work, with high duties together with drafting correspondence, common analysis, and brainstorming.
This sample of use helps clarify why value will play such a major position within the subsequent section of AI adoption. As AI instruments enhance and issues round danger and reliability lower, practitioners will search to use further AI instruments to extra advanced authorized work. Whether or not they’ll find a way to take action, nonetheless, will rely largely on affordability, and which may be decided by agency measurement.
AI has the potential to degree the taking part in subject by enabling solo and small-firm attorneys to compete extra successfully with bigger corporations. Nevertheless, as a result of “the authorized trade is shifting towards a stratification of corporations into numerous levels of know-how ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots,’” most of the most superior authorized AI instruments stay prohibitively costly. Within the absence of adjustments to pricing fashions or coverage intervention, bigger corporations will proceed to retain their longstanding aggressive benefit.
That very same value dynamic extends past legislation corporations and into the access-to-justice area the place, as soon as once more, AI gives great unrealized potential. The report cites a Berkeley-led examine documenting 100-plus real-world AI use instances in authorized support, “together with rankings, suggestions, and estimates of effectivity beneficial properties.” Nevertheless, pricing is as soon as once more a barrier, and “excessive subscription prices for the perfect and most dependable authorized AI instruments may make these instruments unaffordable and inaccessible to the access-to-justice neighborhood.”
The report additionally highlights one other space the place AI’s promise has not been totally realized: authorized schooling. Traditionally, legislation faculties have been gradual to combine know-how into their curricula, however the pervasiveness of AI is starting to reverse this pattern.
Till not too long ago, most legislation faculties turned a blind eye to AI, forcing legislation college students to fend for themselves. College students from 16 faculties, together with Harvard Legislation, the UCLA College of Legislation, and the College of Miami Legislation College, crammed that hole by forming student-led teams dedicated to understanding AI’s impression on the career.
Happily, that tide is lastly turning. Fifty-five p.c of legislation faculties now provide AI-focused programs. One other 83% present hands-on AI experiences like clinics or labs, and Case Western Reserve Legislation College even requires all first-year college students to acquire authorized AI certification. Recognizing that AI isn’t going away and can solely turn out to be extra ubiquitous, legislation faculties are lastly treating AI literacy as a core skilled talent moderately than an elective add-on.
Our career is coming into a pivotal section the place AI’s impression can’t be ignored and should as a substitute be accommodated. It’s already a part of extra fundamental workflows in legislation corporations. The following stage of adoption will decide whether or not it advantages those that want it most or follows the cash to the highest of the meals chain. Will it develop entry to authorized companies and enhance the standard of illustration, or as a substitute reinforce current gaps throughout our career and system of justice? Solely time will inform.
Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York lawyer and Principal Authorized Perception Strategist at 8am, the staff behind 8am MyCase, LawPay, CasePeer, and DocketWise. She’s been blogging since 2005, has written a weekly column for the Every day Report since 2007, is the writer of Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York. She’s simply distracted by the potential of brilliant and glossy tech devices, together with good meals and wine. You’ll be able to comply with her on Twitter at @nikiblack and he or she may be reached at [email protected].
