Almost two-thirds of in-house legal teams believe AI should be applied to their work, according to a new report from Thomson Reuters.

The 2024 Generative AI in Professional Services report found that 62% of corporate counsel think they should be using AI technology for their jobs, up from 54% in 2023. Just over a quarter of law firms and in-house teams (27%) are using public AI tools such as ChatGPT, and while only 12% are currently using legal-specific AI tools, 43% plan to adopt legal industry-focused AI tech within the next three years.

John Shatwell, head of legal professionals Europe at Thomson Reuters, said: “Legal professionals are increasingly recognising the difference in value between AI tools and their industry-specific use cases and are increasingly excited to advance alongside the technology.”

Some 21% of corporate legal teams and 10% of law firms have now implemented policies around AI use, which Shatwell says shows that the “unauthorised and unmanaged use of AI by lawyers is by and large a thing of the past”.

However, the survey also shows there are still some general concerns about AI adoption. More than three-quarters (77%) of legal professionals remain cautious about using AI tools due to issues such as misuse of confidential client information or inaccurate content where AI references fake legal cases.

Shatwell added: “As the technology continues to gain prominence across industries, legal professionals are grappling with a unique concern: the unauthorised practice of law. AI is gaining increasing capabilities to undertake legal tasks. In tandem with these developments, the profession must continue its efforts to rapidly put in place the internal processes and guardrails to ensure the safe and controlled use of AI in the field.” 

Despite the likely widespread use of AI among lawyers, only 2% of law firms and corporate legal departments think having AI skills will be a requirement for new lawyers, while 17% said such skills would be ‘nice to have’ but not essential to the role. About half of law firms said they would also absorb the costs of AI investment as an overhead, while 25% said they plan to pass the costs on to clients. Some 39% of law firm respondents also believe that AI will lead to an increase in alternative fee arrangements, the survey showed.

Back in October, the International Bar Association endorsed the first international treaty on AI governance – the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law – designed to safeguard the adoption of the technology within society.