A 2026 census of 2,221 Victorian lawyers found that 55% of practitioners reported using artificial intelligence in their work, marking a significant increase from 37% in the previous year. AI use was most prevalent in trade practices at 85%, followed by banking and finance and information technology and telecommunications, both at 78%. In contrast, usage was reported as lower in criminal law (29%), family law (45%), and administrative law (46%).
Regarding the tools used, 79% of lawyers reported using consumer chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Copilot, while only 22% used legal-specific tools. Despite the increased adoption, only 26% of lawyers reported that their use of AI resulted in lower client fees, with this figure being higher for those working with business clients (34%) than with individual fee-paying clients (23%). Dr Georgie Rychner, the principal researcher and report co-author, noted that fee reductions in corporate and big firms might be linked to clients being repeat users of legal services who possess a "high level of legal capability."
Rychner also stated that in 2026, 46% of lawyers reported their clients were arriving with inaccurate or misleading information, and 41% presented AI-generated documents requiring correction. Furthermore, nearly half of lawyers indicated an increase in time and effort required due to client use of AI, compared to 19% reporting a reduction in time and effort. The survey also found that in 2025, 89% of practitioners had taken steps to verify the accuracy of AI output, a factor that may have negated efficiency gains.
The report noted that the disparity in AI use seen in 2025, where usage was highest among those under 30 years of age, had largely disappeared in 2026, though usage remained low for those aged 60 and over.
