Top global legal heads reflect on AI and the future of law firms

Human traits are going to reveal as a fundamental asset in the law firm of the future, especially in sights of a more consistent adoption of AI techs.

That’s the shared standpoint of more than three-quarters within the 500 legal heads featured in Simmons & Simmons “Law firm of the future” survey.

The global insight in question involved legal advisers from multi-billion-dollar companies, deep-diving into their expectations on how law firms will evolve by the year 2035.  Amongst the participants, general counsels and other senior legal heads from some of the world’s largest companies in the UK, Europe, USA, Asia and the Middle East.

As expected, Artificial Intelligence was one of the thematic staples of the survey. As legal firms progressively and inevitably welcomes AI tools into their work routines, 77% of participants agree that lawyers’ skills package will expand toward technological competence, accordingly to clients’ new expectations standards.

Wellbeing-centered firms

For around three quarters  of legal heads the inevitable technological revolution will disrupt services and pricing standards. Moreover, a large majority of participants agrees on wellbeing to playing a central position at firm level.

Technological transformation, one of the main topics of discussion, comes out of the survey as an overall positive phenomenon, with 75% of participants predicting wider access opportunities to law services for underserved communities.

The reaction

“Our findings show that legal advisers from some of the world’s biggest companies expect the law firm of a decade from now to look dramatically different. In 10 years’ time, legal heads predict a skills revolution for lawyers, pricing models to alter, firms to double down on wellbeing and greater access to law for underserved communities – Commented Simmons & Simmons’ senior parnter Julian Taylor, depicting a legal profession “on the cusp of a deep transformation”.