The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), in partnership with Everlaw, the cloud-native litigation and investigation platform, published a new report today highlighting GenAI’s transformative impact in corporate legal departments. The report, “GenAI and Future Corporate Legal Work: How Ready Are In-house Teams?,” details the numerous ways GenAI is driving the rapid evolution of in-house legal departments, including economic and cost-cutting impacts, rapid adoption of the technology, and its career implications.
As GenAI adoption takes off in-house, CLOs must lead the way in upskilling employees and reimagining roles, making clear how GenAI proficiency is expected and rewarded. Operational efficiencies can’t be achieved if departmental trust in using the technology is concentrated with a few subject matter experts.
Top findings on economic impact of GenAI:
• Nearly half (49%) of those surveyed expect reduced operational costs from AI. Year over year, 33% of respondents in the survey looked to technology/AI to control costs – a 4x increase in three years.
• 25% of respondents already report cost savings on operational expenditures from using GenAI.
• 58% of legal departments expect a reduced reliance on outside legal service providers, specifically due to GenAI. This has more than doubled since the 2023 survey where 25% of respondents said they would cut the number of law firms they work with in the next year, with the top reason cited by (79%) being to increase cost effectiveness.
“The rapid pace of GenAI’s integration into corporate legal departments and the significant impact it is making is remarkable,” said Veta T. Richardson, ACC president & CEO. “The snapshot this comprehensive survey provides of GenAI’s use in legal departments helps illustrate the magnitude of its effect on budgets, operations, and staff.”
“The expectation for in-house teams to cut costs with AI is becoming a reality, with over a quarter now reporting savings,” said Gloria Lee, chief legal officer of Everlaw. “In just three years, AI technology’s accelerating impact on corporate counsel has begun to reshape in-house legal functions, spurring a sea change across the legal industry.”
CLOs have embraced GenAI but legal teams would benefit from broader upskilling:
• A third of CLOs are using GenAI daily; 79% of CLOs use GenAI once a week.
• 23% of legal professionals have proactively integrated GenAI into their daily routines; and more than two-thirds (70%) of in-house professionals use GenAI at least once a week. Notably, only 10 percent say that they are neither usingnor planning to use GenAI.
• Despite the rapid adoption, less than a quarter believe their legal department is prepared for the talent implications of this trans- formative technology. 64% of departments with 100 or more legal staff have appointed a GenAI subject matter expert, compared to 42% of mid-size departments with 10 to 24 staff, and 25% of small departments with 2 to 5 staff members.
“With GenAI’s potential to significantly increase efficiency, improve client service, and cut costs, it’s no wonder legal leaders are embracing this technology as they are continuously asked to do more with less. Those that can effectively integrate GenAI into their department’s operations, while providing the necessary balance of safeguards and training, clearly have a lot to gain,” added Richardson.
“As GenAI adoption takes off in-house, CLOs must lead the way in upskilling employees and reimagining roles, making clear how GenAI proficiency is expected and rewarded. Operational efficiencies can’t be achieved if departmental trust in using the technology is concentrated with a few subject matter experts,” Lee said.
Optimism abounds on career impact of GenAI but least so for mid-level attorneys:
• 59% of respondents are excited about the positive potential impact GenAI tools can have on their careers yet only 26% say their department is prepared for GenAI’s impact.
• Over time, respondents expect GenAI to continue to improve their work speed and efficiency (83%), allow for faster insight and creativity in their work (57%) and the development of new skills (51%). Among the negative outcomes many foresee are ethical dilemmas (47 percent), and skill degradation (38 percent).
• Legal operations professionals are the most enthusiastic about the potential impact (73%), while mid-level attorneys are least enthusiastic (54%), and they are the most concerned about job losses due to GenAI (67%).
A webinar on November 7 at 11:00 am PT will discuss the report’s findings in further detail.
For more information, visit acc.com.
