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25 March 2026 (New York, NY) - Yep. Another study of the effect of AI on the legal industry.
About 7 in 10 law firm leaders expect the role of junior lawyers to change "significantly" as artificial intelligence continues to reshape the legal sector, according to a survey by AI training provider General Assembly.
In brief:
- The survey found that 71% of leaders in legal firms expect junior roles to evolve, with different responsibilities and skill requirements.
- The findings are based on responses from 258 leaders of consulting, accounting and legal firms in the U.K. and the U.S.
- Some firms are already testing new approaches, according to the survey, which was conducted between Feb. 12 and 25.
- One in five expect graduates to go through employer‑funded training programs before starting client work.
- Looking ahead to the next 12 months, 83% of law firms plan to hire or train for new AI-centric roles.
Said Ash Khanna, head of professional services at General Assembly:
"Producing work is becoming a commodity, and the premium now is on accountability and judgment. The firms that thrive will be those that help mid‑level professionals — historically, the quality assurance layer between juniors and partners — to reinvent themselves as workflow engineers: people who take the firm's unique, unscalable human expertise and turn it into a scalable digital asset".
The report found that AI is:
- prompting 75% of law firms to rethink how they communicate about pricing
- 41% are reporting increased client scrutiny of pricing models
- 34% are proactively refining their messaging
As U.K. law firms increase investment in AI, many leaders say the biggest skills gap sits at the very top of their organizations:
- When asked which group was least prepared to use AI effectively, a majority pointed to partners
- Overall, 55% said partners were the least prepared, rising to 81% among U.K. respondents
- Among UK law firms specifically, 74% said partners were the least prepared group
By contrast, junior professionals were seen as far more comfortable with the technology. Some 54% of respondents in legal firms said associates and analysts were the most prepared to use AI.
Looking ahead to the remainder of 2026, most law firms said they plan to use AI to augment human work rather than replace it. Almost 3/4 added that they expect to invest more in technology that supports lawyers' efficiency, rather than in AI‑first products or assets.
Other points in the survey:
- Law firms were also more likely than accounting and consulting firms to say they plan to keep headcount flat while using AI to drive efficiencies. Some 74% favored that approach.
- Only 14% said they expect to move toward a model where AI agents do most of the work, while 6% plan to hire more staff to scale.
- Another 6% said they are moving away from billable hours to develop proprietary AI solutions.
The survey also found that the vast majority of law firms - 85% - rely on manual checks and controls to enforce written policies governing AI‑generated client work. Only 15% of law firms said they are building, or have already built, an automated system.
And on the training front:
- Approximately 83% of law firms plan to either hire for or train current staff into new AI-centric positions over the next 12 months.
- While 88% of firms believe their workforce is prepared to meet AI ambitions, there is a continued focus on addressing specific skills gaps through targeted upskilling.
Other industry research supports many of General Assembly's findings, for instance the recent in-depth LexisNexis survey, which notes that while AI improves productivity - with 65% of lawyers reporting they work faster with paid AI platforms - there are deep concerns about the "mentorship gap".
And all studies I have read note the obvious: legal professionals worry that over-reliance on AI may prevent junior lawyers from developing critical legal reasoning and argumentation skills.
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