Clients Pressure Law Firms, In-House Counsel to Adopt Legal AI

Participants are unsure about how to predict how much legal AI costs According to the findings of DISCO’s annual study on legal artificial intelligence trends among law firms and corporate legal departments, legal teams have been preoccupied with the question of how much legal AI costs, not whether it is accurate. “The Legal industry has resolved the AI capability question much faster than it has resolved the economics question,” said James Park, AI consulting director at DISCO, a litigation technology company. “Legal teams have a greater understanding of what AI can do but very little visibility into what it will cost them to do it.” The insights gleaned from the 2026 survey, conducted by Ari Kaplan Advisors, touched on: “Pricing transparency has become a bigger constraint on adoption than output, and both law firms and corporations are increasingly demanding better line of sight to both return on investment and the bottom line,” Park said in DISCO’s press release. In summer 2026, Ari Kaplan Advisors conducted an online survey of 104 individuals employed at law firms and in corporate legal departments, along with 33 in-depth interviews. “The market is moving so quickly, and I hope this research helps legal teams in law firms and law departments benchmark their performance to drive their organizations forward,” said Ari Kaplan, principal of Ari Kaplan Advisors. “Leaders are now balancing the promise of legal AI with the practical realities of embedding it into the fabric of their operations.” Among participants polled: Responding corporate legal team members reported feeling pressure to adopt legal AI from the following sources: Participants at law firms claimed they felt pressure to adopt legal AI from the following sources: Respondents cited the following drivers for adopting legal AI: Of the survey participants: According to DISCO’s press release , among the survey respondents: Of the participants, 34 percent said complex litigation took longer, down from 39 percent, with 63 percent investing in legal AI to address it. Here are some other recent international law news stories involving AI. In late September, Littler Mendelson published the second edition of its labour survey report, which stressed the importance of reviewing and updating labour relations strategies amid rapid AI developments and swiftly evolving workforce and business conditions. Blind Justice UK, a justice charity, warned the public against accepting AI chatbots’ recommendations regarding law firms, the Law Society Gazette reported . Enjoy this story? Read the latest international law news on the main page! The Canadian Legal Newswire is a FREE newsletter that keeps you up to date on news and analysis about the Canadian legal scene, providing targeted news and information of interest to Canadian Lawyers. Please enter your email address below to subscribe.