LEGAL AI
Legal AI Is Everywhere. So Why Is Adoption Still Hard?
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Legal teams aren't short on AI tools any more. Nearly every law firm has one on trial. The harder question, and the one this article looks at, is why so few have moved from trying a tool to actually running on one.
The 94% number
ILTA's 2026 Technology Survey polled more than 500 law firms across a dozen countries, representing 140,000 lawyers. The headline finding: 94% of firms say they are using or exploring generative AI, up from 80% the year before.
That's the number most people will repeat, and it's also the number that tells you the least. “Using or exploring” covers everything from a partner testing a chatbot on their own laptop to a firm running AI across every practice group. The gap between those two things is what the rest of this article is about.
What the tool adoption numbers actually show
Ask ILTA's respondents which specific tool they use, and the picture gets more interesting:
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