What the numbers say
The 2026 survey conducted by the legal services research center of the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner, covering 2,221 lawyers in the Australian state, indicates that the use of artificial intelligence in legal practice rose from 37% to 55% in a year. The research was reported by The Guardian. The generational gap noted in 2025, when use was more widespread among those under 30, appears largely absorbed in 2026, although the share remains low among those over 60.
The sectors most involved are commercial practice (85%), banking and finance (78%), and information technology and telecommunications (78%). Use is much lower in criminal law (29%), family law (45%), and administrative law (46%).
Generic tools and verification
The most operationally significant finding concerns the choice of tools: 79% of legal professionals say they use consumer chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Copilot, while only 22% rely exclusively on products designed for legal services. According to the report's co-author, Georgie Rychner, efficiency gains have not lived up to expectations; one possible explanation is that in 2025, 89% of professionals said they had adopted measures to verify the accuracy of outputs, an activity that can cancel out time savings.
On fees, just 26% of respondents report having reduced their rates thanks to artificial intelligence. Reductions are more common among those working for corporate clients (34%) than among private clients who pay directly (23%). 18% report having been able to take on matters that would not previously have been economically viable.
The flip side
The research also documents a less expected effect: 46% of lawyers report that clients arrive with inaccurate or misleading information, and 41% receive AI-generated documents that require corrections. Nearly half report an increase in the time and effort required when the client has used artificial intelligence, versus 19% who report a reduction. Rychner observes that clients more often arrive with misleading information about their legal problems than with a better understanding of them, and that further research is needed to understand the client perspective.
The Australian regulatory landscape has been shifting since 2023. A Victoria lawyer became the first in the country to face sanctions for false citations, losing the ability to practise as a principal lawyer; similar investigations have been opened in Western Australia and New South Wales. The Federal Court issued new rules on the use of generative AI in April, while High Court Chief Justice Stephen Gageler spoke of an unsustainable phase for generated content used in cases.
