成人影音

The number of lawyers at medium and large firms using generative AI for work purposes has almost quadrupled in a little over a year. AI users jumped from 12% in July 2023 to 40% in September 2024, according to 成人影音' most recent survey of the legal market.

86% of lawyers at medium/large firms now use or plan to use AI for work

Also of note is the stark decrease in the number of lawyers with no plans to adopt AI, which dropped from 51% to 14%.

Jonathan Kewley, Partner and Co-Chair of the Global Tech Group at Clifford Chance, says the level of adoption taking place across the legal sector is extraordinary.

"The kind of applications we're seeing 鈥� the way it's been rolled out, the innovation, the investment 鈥� it's off the scale."

While AI is a useful tool in the medium term, Kewley believes its use will only accelerate in the longer term. 

"It's important that lawyers are familiar with AI technology in the same way they are with the internet now. Those that don't use it will face a bit of an existential risk."

The top benefit of using AI for lawyers at medium and large firms is delivering work faster, the 成人影音 survey found 鈥� a trend that is prompting many to question the suitability of existing pricing methods.

A staggering 73% of lawyers at medium and large-sized firms cited delivering work faster as a key benefit of AI, followed by an improved client service (63%) and a competitive advantage (62%).

73% of lawyers at medium and large firms said delivering work faster is the top benefit of AI

While lawyers are eager to make use of this technology, the pressure is also being applied client-side, with 71% of in-house teams expecting their external counsel to be making use of generative AI.

Pricing models

This shift towards AI-driven efficiency is expected to bring changes to pricing structures, says 成人影音' Director of Strategic Markets, Mark Smith.

Checklist for law firms: Price and service transparency

"The impact of generative AI on price will depend on many different factors 鈥� the importance and number of those tasks in the overall workflow, the pricing mechanism at play, the commercial relationship between the client and law firm, and the overall level of competition in that segment of the market."

Our survey found 39% of lawyers at medium and large firms now expect to adjust their billing practices due to AI, up from only 26% in January 2024.

Firms expecting to adjust billing because of AI has almost doubled throughout 2024

However, only 17% think AI will end the billable hour model, with most believing it will remain in place (40%) or are uncertain about its impact (42%). 

鈥淚鈥檝e been practicing for nearly 30 years and we鈥檝e been talking about the death of the billable hour since I started and I suspect we鈥檒l be talking about the death of the billable hour long after I鈥檝e retired,鈥� said Brad Wine, global co-chair of litigation at top 50 US firm Morrison & Foerster.

Encouraging AI adoption

Encouraging AI adoption needs to come from the top down, says Joe Cohen, the Director of Innovation at Charles Russell Speechlys.

"We have been encouraging all of our staff to use AI. Senior leadership have done a great job of speaking about their own, often daily, use of it."

Cohen makes a good point. Our survey found law firm leaders at medium and large sized firms were far more likely to be using AI than associates, at 54% and 36% respectfully. Publicly vocalising the use of AI from leadership teams would surely encourage associates to make use of the technology.

Cohen told us nearly half of their 1,200+ staff are using AI monthly, and the technology has provided answers to tens of thousands of queries over the last couple of months.

"Firmwide training, regular communications and a comprehensive engagement plan to support awareness and adoption has helped us greatly."

This collaborative approach was true with most of the firms we spoke to, with training sessions, use-case or prompt engineering workshops, and open forums all now commonly practiced.

Read more about how firms are deploying AI here.

The top challenge facing firms over the next 12 months will be attracting and retaining good lawyers. Half (55%) of respondents to our September 2024 survey said this was the case.

To attract associates, firms are expected to offer competitive salaries (75%), career development opportunities (54%) and a good work-life balance (52%).

Moira Slape, the Chief People Officer at Travers Smith, believes the current generation of associates have had a mindset shift in the last five years during and after the pandemic.

"Their 'psychological contract' with their employer can differ when it comes to the investment of time they are prepared to commit to building their career."

Most firm leaders say they offer flexible working and mentoring opportunities, but more could be done to improve transparency around career development.

Less than half (41%) of leaders at medium and large sized firms, and just one-fifth (22%) of associates, said they offer adequate transparency around internal promotions.

One in five associates said their firm is transparent about internal promotions

"In a lot of cases the requirement for promotion is not wholly clear. There is still a great deal of favouritism," says a former partner that specialises in employment law.

The topic of partnership is still very much taboo, says a corporate law senior associate.

"I don't think it's discussed that much," she said. "There is an opaqueness around it depending on your team. For some, it seems perhaps more obvious who might progress to partner, whereas in other teams, it seems not particularly transparent."

One firm that has introduced a glass door approach to the promotional process is. The firm has essentially reversed its partnership process by having candid conversations about partnership with associates and new hires at the beginning of their employment.

The problem with partnership

Landing a role at a top firm and working your way up to partnership, it seems, is no longer the end-goal for younger generations of associates.

A January 2024 survey found only a quarter (25%) of associates at law firms want to make partner at their current firm within the next five years. This dropped down to 22% for lawyers at large law firms and 23% at medium-sized firms.

Roughly half (49%) of law firm leaders agreed that the current generation of associates are less interested in becoming partner than previous generations. This went up to 63% for leaders of large law firms.

Deborah Finkler, Managing Partner at Slaughter and May, says this doesn't surprise her.

"Becoming a partner at a law firm requires a huge amount of work and commitment, and always has. This generation of associates are just more realistic about the likelihood of becoming a partner at their firm, and do not feel they need to pretend that staying and becoming a partner is their only option."

"We know not everyone will be with us for their whole career, and that鈥檚 fine," says Finkler from Slaughter and May.

"Things have changed. We have moved on from the idea that doing one job, at the same firm, for your whole career is the only option."

Practice notes on succession planning and exit strategies

This won't mean a swell of associates looking to move in-house, with only 4% planning to do so in the next five years. The majority (75%) are content staying in private practice, and more than half (58%) planned to stay at their current firm. Roughly a quarter (26%) of all associates said they were hoping to be promoted to a position below partner at their current firm, while 7% said they're happy staying in the same position. Just over one in ten (13%) said they didn't know.

75% of law firm associates plan to stay in private practice for at least the next five years.

With three-quarters of associates wanting to stay in private practice, yet only a quarter aspiring to partnership in the near future, are half of all associates happy merely coasting in their careers?

Their list of demands are lengthy, says Slape. Alongside compensation and work-life balance, this generation also want honesty around their firm's commitment to diversity and inclusion (D&I), a business strategy which is clear and compelling, excellent training, and for their voices to be heard.

Corporate social responsibility鈥擟SR鈥攔egulatory requirements

Firms run the risk of having a bulge of very expensive senior associates who don't want to become partner, says Smith from 成人影音.

"If there are fewer people coming through, that's not such a bad thing. You can keep the profits per equity partner tight," he says.

"But the reality is, if a firm is going to grow, the whole pyramid needs to grow along with it."

Visit our human resources hub for law firm leaders

If partnership is off the table, law firms may need to get creative when crafting new career paths that are rewarding for employees, suitable for clients, and good for business 鈥� and balancing these often-conflicting demands won't be easy.