"One of its key conclusions was that our profession has reached a crossroads: AI adoption has surpassed understanding. The majority of legal professionals now use AI but do not fully appreciate the practical and ethical challenges that arise when using AI. In other words, as the report's authors explained, "the conversation has shifted from whether to use the AI technology to how to use it.""
"According to the report, legal professionals continue to accomplish relatively simple tasks with AI, such as summarization, document review, drafting brief documents, and issuing client alerts, rather than more complex legal work that involves confidential client information. This finding aligns with the results of the 8am 2026 Legal Industry Report that I authored, and that will be released this spring. That data shows that AI implementation in law firms focuses on routine work, with top tasks including drafting correspondence, general research, and brainstorming."
AI dominated 2025 across CLE seminars, conference keynotes, news coverage, and industry reports. The American Bar Association convened an AI Task Force on Law and Artificial Intelligence to examine impacts on the legal profession. Legal professionals increasingly use AI but often lack full understanding of practical and ethical challenges. Common AI tasks remain routine: summarization, document review, drafting brief documents, client alerts, correspondence, general research, and brainstorming. AI implementation in law firms focuses on routine work. Cost and firm size will determine whether practitioners can expand AI into complex, confidential legal work as tools improve and risk concerns decline.
Read at Above the Law
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