UK law firms lead AI use for time savings & profit

UK law firms have emerged as the most active users of artificial intelligence among six surveyed legal markets, according to a study of 700 legal professionals commissioned by Leap Legal Software.

The study found that 31% of UK legal professionals use integrated or legal-specific AI tools daily or as a core part of their work, the highest level among the countries surveyed, compared with 20% in Australia and New Zealand.

Another 31% of UK respondents use such tools regularly, though not every day. Taken together, 62% of practitioners in the UK and Ireland were classed as active, regular users of integrated AI. This suggests the technology has become part of routine work across a significant part of the profession rather than remaining limited to trials.

Time savings

The survey linked that uptake to reported efficiency gains. Across the UK and Ireland, 79% of legal professionals said AI saves their firm a moderate to significant amount of time, above the global average of 71%.

Just 9% of respondents in the UK and Ireland said AI was not applicable at their firm because it was not in use. In Australia and New Zealand, the figure was 19%, suggesting a wider gap between experimentation and everyday deployment.

Document review and analysis was the main use case in the UK and Ireland, with 40% of respondents saying their firms already use AI in that area. Drafting, legal research and meeting summaries were also identified as active uses.

Meeting summaries and note-taking stood out as a particularly strong area of uptake. Some 29% of respondents in the UK and Ireland prioritised AI for that purpose, a higher level than in other surveyed markets, pointing to a focus on reducing time spent on routine tasks throughout the working day.

Training focus

The data also pointed to training as a differentiator. Two-thirds of UK respondents, or 67%, rated their firm's training and expertise in AI as good or excellent, ahead of 64% in the United States and Canada and 50% in Australia and New Zealand.

That emphasis on skills development also appeared in broader profitability priorities. In the UK, 50% of respondents identified training and professional development as a key priority for profitability, ahead of competitive salaries at 47%.

This differed from the global ranking, where salaries came first at 53%. The result suggests UK legal professionals place greater weight on improving staff capability, including AI literacy, when assessing how firms can improve financial performance.

Profitability view

Confidence about business performance was also relatively strong among UK respondents. Just 2% said their firm's potential to become more profitable had worsened over the past year, the lowest level among the surveyed markets.

By contrast, 69% said their firm's profitability potential had improved, putting the UK and Ireland on a par with the United States and Canada on that measure. The findings point to a profession that links technology investment and training with stronger operational outcomes.

The survey also found that UK firms lead in the adoption of workflow and case management tools. Some 29% of respondents identified these systems as their second most important technology for profitability, while the category was far less prominent in other regions.

Integration was another recurring theme. A majority of respondents in the UK and Ireland, 57%, described their technology set-up as mostly integrated with a small number of add-ons, suggesting many firms have moved away from more fragmented software estates.

Global picture

Outside the UK, the report described a more uneven pattern. While 93% of legal professionals globally said there was moderate to high potential to increase profitability, only 29% of firms had implemented workflow automation.

Manual administration remained a major drag on performance. Globally, 44% of respondents cited excessive manual administrative work as a primary cost barrier, and four in ten said they spend between two and five hours a day on administrative tasks.

That contrast helps explain why AI adoption rates matter beyond technology strategy alone. In legal businesses where work is heavily document-based and time-billed, even modest reductions in repetitive administrative work can affect both capacity and margins.

Leap's survey covered legal professionals in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland, including 241 respondents from the UK and Ireland cohort. The findings suggest firms in the UK and Ireland have moved faster than peers in embedding AI into daily workflows, especially where tools are integrated into existing systems rather than used as stand-alone experiments.

The pattern also points to a broader shift in how legal practices assess investment. Rather than focusing solely on headcount costs, firms in the UK appear to be placing more emphasis on systems and training that reduce time spent on routine work and improve consistency across case and document management.

For a sector often seen as cautious in adopting new technology, the survey suggests parts of the UK legal market now treat AI as part of standard operating practice. With 62% of respondents in the UK and Ireland reporting regular use of integrated AI tools, adoption has moved well beyond isolated pilot projects.