Introhive survey finds 78% of law and accounting partners struggle to act on firm relationship data

Relationship intelligence vendor Introhive released its 2026 Partner Survey Report on October 13, 2026, finding that partners at law and accounting firms most want AI to help them win new work from existing client relationships, yet most firms' AI tools cannot access that relationship data. Seventy-eight percent of respondents say their firm's relationship data is hard to act on, and most partners using AI for business development rely on general-purpose chatbots that cannot see that data at all. The study was conducted by Austin-based strategy firm Thinktiv and drew 123 partner-level respondents: 42 in legal services, 42 in accounting, and 39 across other professional services. Fifty-seven percent say their firms are at Stage 1 or 2 of AI readiness, but 84% expect to reach Stage 3 or 4 within 18 to 24 months. The number expecting to run AI-driven business development rises from eight respondents to 40. Partners rated business development difficulty 3.4 out of 5 and the urgency of their relationship intelligence challenges 7.3 out of 10. CEO Lee Blakemore called the gap one between AI ambition and data access, telling LawSites the results left him with "mixed emotions." The report also finds firms will share relationship data if they retain control of it, with client billing data remaining the most sensitive category, especially in legal and accounting.