Ironclad, the leading AI-powered contract lifecycle management (CLM) platform, has officially published the results from its second annual State of AI in Legal Report.
Going by the available details, this report took into account the opinion of more than 800 American attorneys and legal operations professionals, covering both law firms and in-house roles. In essence, it explored AI adoption rates, sentiment, and top use cases for artificial intelligence in the legal field.
More on that would reveal how the stated report is understood to be a double opt-in survey executed by the independent research firm We Are Talker. It includes, all in all, a total of five chapters that address trust and adoption, use cases, risks and roadblocks, top areas of concern, and AI’s role in addressing job satisfaction.
Talk about the given report on a slightly deeper level, we begin from how, as compared to 2024 State of AI in Legal report, AI’s YoY usage decreased by 5%. Having said so, the report still found a 19% YoY increase in those who felt AI allowed them to be more strategic at work (16% increase in private law firms and 21% increase with in-house respondents).
Markedly enough, 96% of those using AI said it has helped them achieve business objectives more efficiently, with a majority of respondents saying it has improved the speed (72%) and quality (60%) of their work.
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in how well over 65% of respondents said using AI saves time during their day, marking a 16% YoY increase. This very number goes upto as high as 22% YoY in corporate/in-house settings.
Moving on, an estimated 49% reported dissatisfaction with their jobs. As for why that was the case, the biggest reason would be meeting stressful deadlines (46%), feeling burnt out (41%), and having too many tasks (33%).
Alongside this piece of reality, though, 76% agreed that AI has decreased feelings of burnout at work. In fact, almost 30% said that addressing burnout is an area where AI could help the most.
To expand upon this, teams, who also are using AI at a higher rate than their law firm counterparts, would go on to experience higher success with AI in the context of combating burnout. You see, around 83% respondents stated AI has decreased burnout (vs. 67% in law firm settings).
From a generational standpoint, the report found how sentiment of AI reducing burnout was felt the most by younger generations: 91% of Gen Z (1997-2007), 75% of Millennials (1981-1996), 63% of Gen X (1965-1980), and 43% of Baby Boomers (1946-1964).
Almost like an extension of it, Ironclad’s survey discovered that top use cases lawyers trusted AI for were summarizing case law (61%), document review for litigation (45%), contract review (44%), high-level research (42%), drafting legal documents (42%), and contract analytics (40%).
“It’s clear that AI is having a tangible impact on the ‘human element’ of being a lawyer; allowing us to communicate better with our stakeholders, opening more career opportunities for us, elevating us as innovators in our organizations, and finally helping address the persistent problem of burnout in a very real way,” said Jasmine Singh, Ironclad General Counsel. “Getting these core needs met can have a real impact on not just performance, but general happiness in your career and in your life. We’re going to see the lawyers with good judgment and curiosity rise to the top.”
Hold on, there is more, considering we haven’t yet touched upon how 80% of respondents agreed that communication around legal work is very time-consuming, whereas on the other hand, 64% of all surveyed said AI has helped them become better communicators (50% in firms vs. 79% in-house).
Beyond that, 46% of all respondents were also deemed to believe that using AI tools could create more career growth opportunities. Joining that would be a contingent of 27% of legal professionals who reported a steadfast belief that AI has improved the quality of their business relationships, while another 21% was found to believe that it has improved their professional image within the organization.
