
Stu White, Product and Engineering Director at Access Legal
By Legal Futures Associate Access Legal
Law firms will strategise their use of AI in 2025 to weigh up the risks and benefits as they fear being left behind by the transformative technology – that’s according to industry experts as legal professionals have their say on AI in the legal sector in 2025.
Legal specialists shared their insights and predictions of how they think AI will become fully embedded into UK law firms in 2025 in ‘AI in the legal sector: ‘AI will replace admin – not legal advice’.
One of the contributors, Stu White, Product and Engineering Director at Access Legal, the leading provider of software and services to the legal market, has been pivotal in developing how AI can be embedded into a law firm’s existing case management system and has been working with law firms to understand which AI capabilities and functions would be the most important to them.
He believes AI can really help leverage a law firm’s productivity by reducing the time employees spend on admin: “As more AI tools become available, it will become clear to lawyers that the technology is not a substitute for legal advice, and nor should it be. The power of AI is in its ability to reduce the hours of tedious admin which detracts from the time which could be spent providing legal advice. Far from the lawyer being replaced, they’ll be freed up to deliver more invaluable advice and legal expertise to clients.”
Other analysis comes from Such Amin, a solicitor and Senior Partner at Aequitas Legal, as well as founder of inCase – a market leading app for lawyers; Stephen Mayson, a barrister and honorary professor at London’s UCL and David Sparkes, CEO & Founder of Millbourn Ross.
Each of the experts have years of experience working within the legal sector. They agree that in 2025, law firms need to consider how they will embrace AI to avoid the risk of being left behind and share how legal workers can use AI effectively to improve their workflows and productivity, while also enhancing their customer service and client relationships.
Such Amin, who is also a former president of the Manchester Law Society, believes firms run the risk of making mistakes further down the line if they avoid adopting AI now: “If law firms don’t implement AI in a considered and strategic way now, they’ll be forced to adopt it quickly to avoid being left by the wayside in the future, which is far more risky. AI can feel like uncharted territory for many law firms – with the lack of AI legislation in the UK, and currently no defined rulebook from the SRA, but that doesn’t mean they should shy away from it.”
Stephen Mayson says law firms need to adopt a ‘strategising mindset’ to continually review the benefits and risks of using AI: “All firms could benefit from using AI to make routine processes faster, cheaper and more predictable. To do so successfully, they need an AI strategy.”
Clare Bonsall, head of product at Access Legal, also shares the potential uses of AI within law firms: “Where AI can deliver genuine value is in targeting the routine tasks that take up fee-earners’ time so that firms can improve both employee and client experiences.”
Recent research carried out by Access Legal found that eight in 10 legal workers believe their law firm could benefit from using AI technology more, while 44% of those surveyed said they are already using AI for work. The study was conducted to understand how AI is being used across different industries and the behaviours of employees using it.
The blog is the first in a series from Access Legal focusing on how AI is used within the legal sector and how embracing AI technology can set firms apart from their competitors. For more information about the research and predictions, visit here.