New Study Finds AI is Addressing The Human Issues in Legal: Burnout, Communication, and Career Opportunities

The Ironclad-commissioned study, which surveyed 800 lawyers from both in-house and law firm settings, also found that AI is helping improve speed, quality of work, and strategy, with 96% of lawyers saying AI helps them achieve their business objectives more efficiently

SAN FRANCISCO, June 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Ironclad, the leading AI-powered contract lifecycle management (CLM) platform, announced its second annual State of AI in Legal Report today. The report, which surveyed 800 American attorneys and legal operations professionals—evenly split between law firms and in-house roles—explores adoption rates, sentiment, and top use cases for artificial intelligence in the legal field. 

Click here to download the full 2025 State of AI in Legal Report.

The second annual State of AI Report, commissioned by Ironclad, was a double opt-in survey executed by the independent research firm We Are Talker. The 2025 report includes five chapters addressing trust and adoption, use cases, risks and roadblocks, top areas of concern, and AI's role in addressing job satisfaction. A few key findings of the report were:

While AI usage decreased among legal professionals year-over-year (YoY), those using it are seeing more value:

• Compared to 2024 State of AI in Legal report, YoY usage decreased by 5%. Still, the report found a 19% YoY increase in those who felt AI allowed them to be more strategic at work (16% increase in private law firms and 21% increase with in-house respondents).
• 96% of those using AI said it has helped achieve business objectives more efficiently, with a majority of respondents saying it has improved the speed (72%) and quality (60%) of their work.
• 65% of respondents said using AI saves time during their day—a 16% YoY increase, and a substantial 22% YoY increase in corporate/in-house settings.

Job dissatisfaction is on the rise, but AI is directly addressing burnout

• 49% of respondents said that they are dissatisfied with their jobs (an 18% YoY increase), with the highest causes being meeting stressful deadlines (46%), feeling burnt out (41%), and having too many tasks (33%).
• 76% agreed that AI has decreased feelings of burnout at work, with 30% saying that addressing burnout is an area where AI could help the most.
• In-house teams—who also are using AI at a higher rate than their law firm counterparts—have shown higher success using AI to combat burnout, with 83% stating AI has decreased burnout (vs. 67% in law firm settings).
• The report found the sentiment of AI reducing burnout was felt most by younger generations: 91% of Gen Z (1997-2007), 75% of Millennials (1981-1996), 63% of Gen X (1965-1980), and 43% of Baby Boomers (1946-1964).
• This sentiment of burnout alleviation mostly mirrors adoption of AI by generation, with Millennials leading adoption (78%), followed by Gen Z (67%), Gen X (61%), and Baby Boomers (33%).

AI is being used for rote work, allowing lawyers to focus on strategy

• The top use cases lawyers trusted AI for were summarizing case law (61%), document review for litigation (45%), contract review (44%), high-level research (42%), drafting legal documents (42%), and contract analytics (40%).
• The study found YoY increases in routine, yet time-consuming, tasks including contract analysis (17% YoY increase for in-house teams), summarizing case law (34% YoY increase), and contract review (17% YoY increase).
• 57% of respondents reported that AI frees up time for strategic work (13% YoY increase).

AI is helping lawyers communicate better and opening the door for more career opportunities

• 80% of respondents agreed that communication around legal work is very time-consuming, and 64% of all surveyed said AI has helped them become better communicators (50% in firms vs. 79% in-house).
• 46% of all respondents believe using AI tools could create more career growth opportunities, and 55% of in-house lawyers agree.
• 27% of legal professionals believe AI has improved the quality of their business relationships, with 21% believing it has improved their professional image within their organization.

In-house AI usage outpaces law firms for the second year in a row

• 81% of in-house respondents are currently using AI tools for legal work, compared to 55% of law firm respondents.
• 73% of in-house respondents believe the benefits of AI outweigh the risk, while less than half of private law firm respondents (46%) agree.
• When asked about benefits of AI, in-house legal sentiment eclipsed law firm across every category, including AI improving speed (74% in-house vs. 69% law firm), improving quality (62% vs. 56%), improving quality of business relationships (32% vs. 18%) and improved their image within their organization (22% vs. 18%).

With job replacement fears easing, security and accuracy concerns move to the forefront

• A top concern a year ago, data revealed an 8% decrease in concern around AI replacing jobs.
• Fears around security and accuracy are on the rise; in-house legal teams were 18% more concerned with security than a year ago, and 18% more concerned about accuracy.

"It's clear that AI is having a tangible impact on the 'human element' of being a lawyer; allowing us to communicate better with our stakeholders, opening more career opportunities for us, elevating us as innovators in our organizations, and finally helping address the persistent problem of burnout in a very real way," said Ironclad General Counsel Jasmine Singh. "Getting these core needs met can have a real impact on not just performance, but general happiness in your career and in your life. AI is unlocking these superpowers for lawyers—but core legal expertise is more important than ever now. We're going to see the lawyers with good judgment and curiosity rise to the top."

To learn more about Ironclad, please visit Ironcladapp.com.

About Ironclad
Ironclad is the leading AI-powered contract lifecycle management platform, processing billions of contracts every year. Contracts power every business, yet managing them can be slow and costly. Global innovators like L'Oréal, OpenAI, and Cisco trust Ironclad to collaborate and negotiate on contracts, accelerate deals while reducing risk, and turn agreements into strategic business assets. Ironclad is the only platform powerful enough to manage contracts across any department, from sales agreements to a procurement contract or NDA. The company is backed by leading investors, including Accel, Sequoia, Y Combinator, BOND, and Franklin Templeton. For more information, visit www.ironcladapp.com or follow us on LinkedIn and X.

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SOURCE Ironclad Inc.