2024 Litigation and AI Survey
Litigation directors must strike a balance between efficiency, clear budgets, and measurable results, while also managing increased volume and complexity. The sector is under increasing pressure to modernize and use cutting-edge techniques and technology for faster and more accurate results. In March 2024, UnitedLex commissioned a third-party study of over 200 top litigation professionals to understand the evolving trends and goals of the modern litigation function. Data and AI projects, performance metrics, and operational governance are driving a new paradigm for both in-house and law firm practitioners. This paper investigates how litigation professionals are addressing the obligation to modernize using AI tools.
Modernization Pressures
Most in-house teams and law firms prioritize modernizing their litigation practices during the next 12-18 months (92% and 84%, respectively) to better match budgets and resources and meet litigation priorities. Law firms and in-house teams are embracing technology, particularly AI and generative AI, to better accomplish their modernization goals. They are also shifting resources to better align with the expertise required in-house, such as AI, and outsourcing "run the business" litigation tasks so they can zero in on providing higher-value legal advice—all with the goal of measuring the effectiveness of their litigation function using data-driven metrics.
Experimenting with Generative AI tools
AI, especially generative AI, has the potential to transform the legal process. Experimentation is crucial for identifying and implementing the most effective apps for litigation practitioners, preventing them from falling behind the competition. Recognizing the promise of increased productivity, the vast majority of in-house and law firm practitioners (74% and 62%, respectively) are currently using or plan to use AI/generative AI technologies for litigation work within the next year. Simultaneously, generative AI is altering not just how litigation work is completed, but also who performs the work within the legal ecosystem.
Resources are strategically reallocated due to constraints
Law firms and internal teams are being forced to resource work more efficiently due to tight budgets. This entails assigning work to the appropriate lawyers or outside providers and automating tedious procedures to save up internal staff time for higher-value cases. As a matter of fact, budgetary constraints are influencing how and for what purposes law firms and 82% of in-house respondents allocate their resources to litigation.
Assessing the success of modernization projects
Approximately 64% of in-house respondents stated that tracking budget against spend is the most crucial indicator for evaluating the success of their litigation function, whereas 68% of respondents from law firms stated billable hours, followed by profit per partner (56%) as the most crucial metrics. Continuous improvement is made possible by this data-driven strategy, guaranteeing that modernization initiatives actually result in more advantageous competitive positioning.