Adoption is uneven, and the panel's account is a single news report. Law360 is the only outlet covering the panel, so the specific remarks come from one source. An Above the Law analysis of recent surveys found that 80% of in-house teams do not require or encourage their firms to use AI, and 59% have not seen savings from their firms' AI use. The surveys do not yet show whether AI is reducing outside legal spend. Headcount expectations are also unsettled. In a Deloitte survey of 120 legal department leaders, about three-quarters expect their departments to stay roughly the same size, while 20% expect shrinkage, up from 10% in a 2024 survey. Bloomberg Law reported that corporate teams expect to gain an edge over firms on AI-driven savings, while firms are expected to keep high-stakes litigation and transactional work. Budget pressure drives much of this, as in-house teams are asked to meet growing demand with flat or smaller budgets.
For outside counsel, the signal is that AI use is becoming a condition of getting and keeping in-house work, not an optional differentiator. Firms should expect clients to ask how they use AI on routine tasks and research, and should be ready to show efficiency gains with specifics. Watch whether clients who require AI use start pushing those savings into fee arrangements, and whether the 20% shrinkage expectation grows in future surveys. Firms that cannot document time or cost savings from AI will have difficulty answering that question.