What you probably already know: Life inside the law is increasingly focused on artificial intelligence. Over the past year, a growing number of large firms have announced firmwide deployments of generative AI, created executive AI leadership roles, launched mandatory training academies and even sought international certifications governing AI management. Nearly every announcement promises faster drafting, more efficient document review, improved legal research and greater value for clients. Just as frequently, firms stress that lawyers, not algorithms, remain responsible for legal judgment. In other words, AI is augmenting professional expertise rather than replacing it, as many initially feared.
Why it matters: The shift is visible across firms of all sizes. Kansas City-based Stinson LLP, which has 450 attorneys across 13 offices in the United States, recently expanded its use of Harvey, an advanced AI generative platform built for the legal industry, to attorneys across the firm after a successful pilot. Australia's Clayton Utz paired its own Harvey rollout with a public emphasis on governance, noting that it is among the first firms in the world to achieve a level of certification for AI management. Atlanta-based Ogletree Deakins, one of the largest labor and employment firms in the world with more than 1,100 attorneys across 60 offices, just named its first-ever chief data and artificial intelligence officer.
What it means: One firm — Seattle-based Supio, an AI platform for plaintiff law — says the technology helped it more than double its customer count in the first half of 2026. “I have seen how much time and energy go into work that technology can help carry,” says Melissa Graham, who just joined the firm as vice president of industry. “Firms have a real appetite for AI.” Salt-Lake City based Akin just embedded AI across more than 65 million documents. San Francisco’s Smith Clinesmith LLP recently partnered with AI legal platform Eve to transform its entire practice into an AI-native law firm, embedding the technology at the core of case preparation, litigation strategy and firm operations.
What happens next: The Clio 2025 Legal Trends Report found that AI use by legal professionals jumped from 19% to 79% in just one year, while Bloomberg Law says AI adoption is evolving at an “unheard of pace,” noting that “all 40 law firms with at least 500 attorneys” used legal-specific AI tools last year. Law firms are using AI for everything from efficiency to marketing, especially toward younger attorneys. Smith Clinesmith notes that AI “levels the playing field.” “For years, defense firms could overwhelm plaintiff lawyers simply by out-resourcing them,” says Smith Clinesmith Managing Partner Dawn Smith. “With AI and Eve, one lawyer can now do the work that used to require dozens of people.”
