AI: A third of lawyers use it every day
Most law firms and in-house legal departments have yet to get on top of their governance of AI use, despite it being widespread, according to new research.
Researchers said almost a fifth of lawyers did not know who managed AI governance at their firms, despite two-thirds of them using it either every day or “multiple times a week”.
In Why AI governance needs a feedback loop [1], LexisNexis said governance must be embedded into operations and processes “from day one”. Firms should “build the governance model as AI capabilities develop”, rather than creating separate approval structures.
“As AI tools support more of the legal workflow, organisations will face more decisions about where and how they should be used.
“A governance model established now gives leaders and teams a consistent basis for assessing new uses, setting the right level of review and deciding where professional judgement needs to remain central.”
When asked to describe their firm’s AI culture, 29% of the 543 lawyers polled in July 2026 said it was “embedded” in the strategy and operations, 43% that their firms were “experimenting but progress is slow” and 14% that there was “interest but little investment”.
Nearly four in 10 (38%) said AI governance was managed by the IT and technology team (38%), followed by risk and compliance (34%) and executive leadership (31%). Just under a fifth of lawyers (18%) said there was “no clear owner”.
Researchers said 39% of lawyers identified multiple teams as responsible for AI governance, while 40% identified only one owner.
When asked how often they used AI in their legal work, a third of lawyers (34%) said every day, a further third (32%) “multiple times a week” and another 7% once a week.
Hallucinations were the top concern, with the proportion of lawyers concerned about “inaccurate or fabricated AI-generated information” growing from 57% in 2024 to 83% in 2026.
The most popular uses for AI were for legal research, followed by document summarisation, drafting and document review.
Asked to state the top three challenges facing their firm, department or team over the next 12 months, the most common answer was keeping pace with new technology.
Researchers commented: “Identifying AI initiatives early, directing them through appropriate assurance channels and embedding governance into existing processes will help drive innovation forward.”
Increasing costs came second on the list of challenges, followed by the continuing demands of compliance regulations. After that came keeping up-to-date with changes in the law, cyber security and attracting and retaining good lawyers.
If their organisation failed to “fully embrace AI”, almost half of lawyers (46%) said it would “negatively impact” their career, with higher rates at large law firms (58%) and in-house teams (59%).
Stuart Greenhill, senior director of segments at LexisNexis UK, commented: “AI is moving too quickly for governance to be treated as a policy you review once or twice a year. It has to learn from how lawyers are actually using the technology.
“That means keeping people in the loop, grounding AI in authoritative legal content, and feeding what we learn about accuracy, quality and risk back into the way the technology is governed.”