Tagging metadata in documents, flagging risky contract clauses and conducting contract analysis are seen as the top uses of artificial intelligence in legal work by 800 lawyers in a survey commissioned by contract management software company Ironclad. 

Helping with research, summarizing case law and reviewing documents for litigation are other big uses of the technology that lawyers see, according to the lawyers, split between in-house and outside counsel.

In-house lawyers are further along in their use of the tools, with almost 90% of them saying they already use AI compared to 60% of those at law firms who say that. 

The higher adoption among in-house lawyers likely flows from the flexibility they’re given in their work. While almost 100% of legal teams have the go-ahead to use AI in some fashion, the equivalent number on the private firm side is under 75%. 

“Law firms were five times more likely to ban AI usage than corporations,” the report says. “Law firms are also more likely than in-house teams to discourage use of AI.” 

A number of reasons are likely behind this split, the report says. “Law firm lawyers can be sued for malpractice if they base their work on AI and it is wrong and leads to a negative result for their client,” the report says. What’s more, “law firm clients may specifically ban their firms from using AI products because they impact client confidentiality or privilege concerns, or because they don't trust the AI to be accurate.”

Accuracy remains a concern

Notwithstanding growing adoption of the technology, both sides still see accuracy and security as big concerns, with roughly 40% of all lawyers citing those as reasons to proceed cautiously. 

Regulation could help, the report says. Three quarters of lawyers say it would help if government stepped in with rules, and an even larger percentage say they would speed up their adoption of tools if rules were in place. 

“Eighty-three percent of the legal industry would be more open to using AI tools in their workplace if proper regulations were adopted,” the report says. 

Most lawyers aren’t overly concerned about AI taking over their jobs. For about a quarter, mainly those in private practice, losing out to the technology weighs on their minds. But most see the tools as a way to make their jobs easier. 

About a third see AI helping them get mundane tasks out of the way quicker, and about 15% see AI helping them with task management.