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AI adoption is growing, but some are hesitant, new ABA tech survey finds

By Danielle Braff

March 7, 2025, 1:20 pm CST

Artificial intelligence isn’t replacing lawyers, but it is transforming how they work.

From contract review to litigation strategy, firms are figuring out where AI adds value and where it falls short, according to the 2024 Legal Technology Survey Report released Tuesday by the ABA.

Currently, 13% of those surveyed believe AI is mainstream in the legal profession—which is a significant jump from 2023, when just 4% believed this. They expect that AI will continue to emerge, and 45% think it will become mainstream within the next 3 years.

When it comes to AI adoption, 30% of responding lawyers are using it, with the largest percentage in the biggest firms: 46% of firms of 100 or more attorneys use AI, compared with 30% of firms with 10-49 lawyers and 18% of solo attorneys.

The greatest barrier to entry, according to the survey, is the belief that AI is not totally accurate. Three-quarters of those surveyed responded that concerns about AI-generated hallucinations are the reason why they have been hesitant to implement it.

This news encouraged Emily Colbert, senior vice president of CoCounsel Litigation at Thomson Reuters.

“This shows that firms are taking AI seriously and understand the importance of verification and responsible implementation,” Colbert says. “The firms successfully using AI today aren’t waiting for perfection; they’re pairing AI with human oversight, applying guardrails and ensuring reliability.”

To learn more about AI and how to implement it, the majority of law firms are using CLE seminars or webinars, including 68% of firms with just two to nine attorneys.

The AI tools law firms are using vary, however. More than half (52%) of firms are using or considering ChatGPT. Thomson Reuters CoCounsel follows with 26% of respondents using or thinking about using it. Lexis+ AI is third at 24%.

Despite concerns or hopes that generative AI might reduce or even eliminate the need for hourly billing, 67% of firms report still use this method.

Patrick Wright, a partner at The Wright Firm who is on the planning board of the 2025 ABA Tech Show, says the reason for the disparity is because the larger firms are getting the young new attorneys who are well-versed in AI and ready to use the tech.

“Normally, early adoption of tech starts at smaller firms from the ground up because you don’t have the bureaucracy and committees found in a larger firm,” Wright says. “Now, you’re seeing that with this tech, it’s coming from the bigger firms’ younger lawyers.”

Firms are using AI to tackle different projects. Just over half—54%—say it helps with increasing efficiency, while 9% say the tools could help with document managing and review. But accuracy, reliability and security concerns are hampering most from relying totally on artificial intelligence.

Other legal tech

By far, law firms are embracing Westlaw/Westlaw Precision with CoCounsel, with 46% of respondents using it. Lexis/Lexis+ came in second place at 25%.

Social media is still going strong as well. Most law firms opt for LinkedIn, but Facebook is still popular for professional purposes. X (formerly Twitter) is dipping in popularity for firms with 100 attorneys or more. In 2023, 39% of those large firms were posting on X, but this dropped to 21%. Solo firms, however, are using X more than ever: 28% post there, compared with 24% in 2023 and just 11% in 2022.

Despite growing acceptance of AI and technology within the legal industry, Wright says we still have a long way to go.

“We’re basically in the 1990s for the internet,” Wright says. “Every day, there’s a new part that’s released that’s better than the last, and I think you’re going to see firms understanding the value of it.”

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