Lloyd: Senior governance of AI is now business critical
Most top UK and US law firms now have a senior executive tasked with overseeing their use of AI – but only a third are lawyers and a quarter are women, according to new research.
The majority of AI leaders come from technology-focused backgrounds, “suggesting that top-performing firms are increasingly turning to senior external technology experts to successfully integrate AI into legal practice”.
Legal technology specialist Search Acumen looked at how many of the top 100 firms from both sides of the Atlantic had a senior AI leader in place, in a standalone, often C-suite, position.
The combined count showed that 76 of the top 100 UK firms have hired a chief AI officer or equivalent, compared to 96 of the top 100 US practices.
They were slightly more likely to be lawyers in the UK (35%) than the US (33%).
The analysis indicated “a correlation between revenue and AI leadership” in the UK – all but two of the top 50 firms had a senior AI hire in place, whereas for firms ranked between 50 and 100, it was just 56%.
There was a strong male bias – 81% of senior AI hires in the UK, and 70% in the US, were men.
Female AI leaders were also more likely to be a qualified lawyer (45%) than men (31%), “possibly pointing to a higher bar for entry for women”, said Search Acumen.
The research found London “still had pulling power as the top international city for senior AI talent” – a quarter of all the top UK and US law firms have based their global senior AI hires in London, compared to 10% in New York.
Andrew Lloyd, managing director of Search Acumen, commented: “What surprised me with our analysis was the sheer volume of firms on both sides of the Atlantic with a chief AI officer already in place at the very top level.
“This tells me that top firms are taking it seriously, both as a tool for productivity and commercial advantage, and as a threat to how law is practised itself.”
It also indicated that the need for standalone senior governance of AI within law firms was “business critical”, he went on.
“For the largest and arguably most successful firms, it’s not enough just to plug AI in. Instead, it’s part of a permanent strategy where AI is governed, trained and evolved to ensure that it delivers in a controlled and measured way.”
He added that the combination of the importance of English law globally and “a growing pool of highly capable, if often understated, AI talent” meant it was “clear why London continues to punch above its weight”.
Mr Lloyd continued: “Our thriving legal sector should result in a virtuous cycle for the UK when it comes to AI investment, with an easily accessible market and a high level of expertise providing the impetus for law and tech to continue to grow together.
“London stands to be the beneficiary of this, and, at a time when the economic news elsewhere is not entirely rosy, supporting that growth should be top of the agenda for City leaders and policymakers.”