The sixth annual survey of 700+ legal professionals in law firms and corporate legal departments across the U.S. and Europe explores the impact of Generative AI (GenAI) on the legal profession and unveils key trends shaping the industry over the next three years.
Legal innovation: Seizing the future or falling behind?
Highlights
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)
A surge of GenAI adoption shows that the industry is embracing the latest technology: 76% of legal professionals in corporate legal departments and 68% in law firms use GenAI at least once a week.
Legal business practice transformation
Technological innovation could potentially reshape traditional business models. For example, 60% of legal professionals expect AI-driven efficiencies to reduce the prevalence of the billable hour.
Legal talent attraction
Most legal professionals (81%) believe offering acceptable work-life balance is the most significant factor in attracting talent.
ESG
Demand for ESG expertise continues to rise, and 41% of corporate legal departments say they’re “very prepared” to meet this challenge, compared with 29% of law firms.
DEIB
72% of legal professionals believe that promoting diversity and inclusion in the work environment is essential.
Download the 2024 Future Ready Lawyer Report
Trends transforming the legal industry
The sixth edition of our Future Ready Lawyer Survey finds the legal industry at a pivotal moment, as technological advancements continue to reshape the way legal professionals work. The report describes how law firms are embracing technology to meet the needs of their clients, and how in-house legal professionals embrace it to support their businesses in an increasingly complex environment. As technology progresses, legal professionals are looking to adapt their practices, service offerings, and workflows to remain competitive in this changing landscape.
While accelerating change makes it ever more challenging to look ahead, the 2024 Wolters Kluwer Future Ready Lawyer Survey Report uncovers key trends that will significantly impact the legal industry in the next three years. These include increasing costs and price pressures, the escalating challenges of information security management, coping with the growing volume and complexity of information, and the ability to attract and retain top legal talent. GenAI’s rapid progress is intertwined with all these trends, putting pressure on law firms and corporate legal departments to remain vigilant, curious, and open to change to stay ahead.
While accelerating change makes it ever more challenging to look ahead, the 2024 Wolters Kluwer Future Ready Lawyer Survey Report uncovers key trends that will significantly impact the legal industry in the next three years. These include increasing costs and price pressures, the escalating challenges of information security management, coping with the growing volume and complexity of information, and the ability to attract and retain top legal talent. GenAI’s rapid progress is intertwined with all these trends, putting pressure on law firms and corporate legal departments to remain vigilant, curious, and open to change to stay ahead.
Key findings
Embracing GenAI
- Legal professionals are actively adopting GenAI to enhance their efficiency and ability to meet growing client demands.
- GenAI’s primary applications in the legal field include research, analysis, and document automation.
- The three main challenges in GenAI adoption are difficulties with integration, trust issues regarding GenAI outcomes, and ethical concerns surrounding AI and data privacy.
GenAI adoption shows an industry embracing technology with legal departments (76%) and law firms (68%) using GenAI at least once per week.
Legal professionals expect AI-driven efficiencies will impact the prevalence of the billable hour.
Redefining legal business practices
- The vast majority of legal professionals expect GenAI to transform traditional legal business models and pave the way for more efficient service delivery and innovative pricing models.
- The impact of GenAI is changing client expectations, forcing law firms to adopt the technology to provide quicker responses, greater billing transparency, and personalized legal strategies.
- Legal professionals are also increasingly leveraging alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) to manage tasks that can be outsourced cost-effectively.
Attracting legal talent
- Demand for a healthy work-life balance and competitive compensation packages significantly impact talent retention and attraction strategies in the legal industry.
- When looking to recruit new legal talent, technological expertise is an important attribute of potential hires for legal organizations.
- The majority of legal professionals have significantly increased their in-office workdays, with a stronger increase among corporate legal departments than law firms.
Most significant factors in attracting talent.
There is a noticeable gap between legal departments and law firms when it comes to feeling "very prepared" to meet the rising demand for ESG expertise.
Navigating ESG as demand grows
- ESG matters are now central to corporations and stakeholders, increasing demand for ESG-related legal expertise.
- Law firms and corporate legal departments are both feeling the strain of increasing ESG demands, but corporate legal departments feel better prepared to handle this challenge.
- Legal professionals must adapt to the complex regulatory environment around ESG considerations to stay relevant and to better serve their clients.
Country facts
Countries leading the way in GenAI use
Percentage of legal professionals using GenAI in their legal work at least once a day
Countries that foresee the highest levels of significant impact by AI-driven efficiencies on the prevalence of the billable hour
Number of days legal professionals are required to work in the office
Over half of the employees in the U.S., Italy, and Poland are required to work in the office five days a week.
Countries that are very prepared to meet client demand for ESG services
Download the 2024 Future Ready Lawyer Report
Discover the latest legal trends and challenges affecting the future of law, and gain a competitive edge with the 2024 Future Ready Lawyer Report - Legal innovation: Seizing the future or falling behind?
Legal luminaries’ insights
The single greatest challenge lawyers face in implementing GenAI is fear – and that fear is driven by lack of understanding. Law firm leaders have a critical role to play in helping overcome these fears.
I have the impression that in the legal industry, recruitment and retention of valuable employees is a much greater challenge in law firms than in in-house legal departments. Certainly, law firms that are successful in this area recruit and manage employees consciously and strategically.
AI tools will be indisputably impactful on the legal profession, particularly in areas driven by data, and — as the tools improve — they will likely reduce time spent on routine tasks. But there will always be a need for the professional judgment of lawyers.
The ability to anticipate and adapt to these disruptions will define the success of legal professionals in the years ahead. Lawyers will need to remain agile, continuously update their knowledge and skills, and collaborate across borders to navigate the complexities of these emerging fields.
More insights from the Future Ready Lawyer Report
About the Survey and Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory
The 2024 Future Ready Lawyer Survey from Wolters Kluwer’s Legal & Regulatory division included quantitative interviews with 712 lawyers in law firms and corporate legal departments across the U.S. and nine European countries — Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Poland and Hungary — to examine how client expectations, technology, and market trends are affecting the future of the legal profession and how legal organizations are prepared to address these.
The survey was conducted online for Wolters Kluwer by a leading international research organization from May 6 to May 28, 2024.
Wolters Kluwer (WKL) is a global leader in information, software, and services for professionals in healthcare, tax and accounting, financial and corporate compliance, legal and regulatory, and corporate performance and ESG. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services. Wolters Kluwer reported 2023 annual revenues of €5.6 billion. The company serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 21,400 people worldwide. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.
© 2024 Wolters Kluwer N.V. and/or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved.
The survey was conducted online for Wolters Kluwer by a leading international research organization from May 6 to May 28, 2024.
Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory
Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory – a division of Wolters Kluwer – is a leading provider of legal and compliance solutions that enable professionals to improve productivity and performance, mitigate risk, and achieve better outcomes.Wolters Kluwer (WKL) is a global leader in information, software, and services for professionals in healthcare, tax and accounting, financial and corporate compliance, legal and regulatory, and corporate performance and ESG. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services. Wolters Kluwer reported 2023 annual revenues of €5.6 billion. The company serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 21,400 people worldwide. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.
© 2024 Wolters Kluwer N.V. and/or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved.
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