AI Adoption in Corporate Legal Departments Doubles According to The General Counsel Report
WASHINGTON, March 11, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Findings from part two of The General Counsel Report, released today by FTI Consulting, Inc. (NYSE:FCN) and legal data intelligence company Relativity, show generative artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in corporate legal departments has nearly doubled year over year, with 87% of general counsel now reporting use within their teams, compared with 44% in 2025.
The report also found a range of changes in the ways legal departments are approaching AI and other technologies, and 39% now view AI as among their strategic priorities for supporting legal department efficiency and efficacy.
Legal departments that have a formalized technology roadmap in place also reached an all-time high of 53%, more than double from 25% the previous year. With this, approximately 70% plan to invest in new technologies in the next 12 months, underscoring the increasing impact of technology on legal department strategy and function.
When asked about their comfort with generative AI use for certain tasks, respondents expressed the most openness for legal research, e-discovery, document review, contract drafting and contract analysis. Respondents said the most common task for generative AI was summarization, with 83% either using or experimenting with it. This was followed by identifying contract clauses (63%), audio and video transcription (53%), analysis of foreign language materials (40%) and first-pass review (37%).
"Generative AI has become a fixture in the majority of legal departments, and of those not yet using it, most have plans to implement in the near term," said Sophie Ross, Global Chief Executive Officer of FTI Technology. "As in-house teams grow more comfortable with a wide range of generative AI use cases, appropriate upskilling will be imperative. General counsel will need to provide their departments with structured training, education and expert support to use this technology effectively, and underpin those efforts with technology roadmaps that enable innovation alongside risk mitigation."
"The 2026 edition of The General Counsel Report is significant because it provides compelling evidence indicating the era of the ‘Luddite Lawyer' is over," said David Horrigan, Discovery Counsel and Legal Education Director at Relativity and Adjunct Professor of Law at Duquesne University's Thomas R. Kline School of Law. "Throughout the seven annual editions of this report, chief legal officers' use and acceptance of technology have been important focus areas, and the 2026 edition shows a meaningful shift in the role technology plays in the work of the general counsel. For instance, the report shows that chief legal officers' use of generative AI has steadily and substantially increased, from a mere 20% using generative AI in 2023 to 87% in this year's report. In addition, with chief information officers included in this year's report expressing that they see ‘digital ambassadors' emerging in legal departments, it's clear we're entering a new era of the ‘TechnoLawyer.'"
The General Counsel Report is based on one-on-one interviews between Ari Kaplan Advisors and chief legal officers at large corporations around the world, as well as a separate quantitative survey of more than 200 general counsel in a dozen countries. For the first time, this year's findings include insights from c-level technical leaders, including chief information officers and heads of transformation within large organizations, providing commentary on the dynamics between legal department leaders and their cross-department counterparts. Together, the data pools examined how organizations have responded during the past year of technological, policy, geopolitical and economic disruptions.
Part two of The General Counsel Report is available for download here. Part one was released in February.
Demographics and Methodology
In September 2025, Ari Kaplan conducted personal interviews with 30 leaders serving as general counsel or chief legal officers of their organizations. Sixty-three percent have a role with global responsibilities and 59% work in organizations with more than $500 million in annual revenue. He also interviewed technology and digital transformation leaders at global organizations for anecdotal insights into how their responsibilities and views overlap with the general counsel. Separately, in the summer of 2025, Censuswide conducted a quantitative survey of 224 general counsel and chief legal officers at organizations with more than $100 million in annual revenue and more than 1,000 employees in South America, North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
About FTI Consulting
FTI Consulting, Inc. is a leading global expert firm for organizations facing crisis and transformation, with more than 8,100 employees located in 32 countries and territories as of December 31, 2025. In certain jurisdictions, FTI Consulting's services are provided through distinct legal entities that are separately capitalized and independently managed. The Company generated $3.80 billion in revenues during fiscal year 2025. More information can be found at www.fticonsulting.com.
About Relativity
Relativity is a leading legal data intelligence company that builds technology to help users organize data, discover the truth, and act on it. Its extensible, AI-powered cloud platform, RelativityOne, transforms complex data into actionable insights at massive scale for litigation, investigations, regulatory inquiries, data breach responses, and other legal use cases. The world's largest law firms and corporations, government agencies, and a robust network of channel partners rely on Relativity's legal AI software to securely surface and manage the most relevant and impactful information in their matters. The company also expands access to technology by providing its platform at no cost to academic institutions through its Relativity Academic program and to organizations supporting pro bono legal work through its Justice for Change initiative.
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