More than half of Victorian lawyers use AI – but only a quarter have cut client fees as a result

A new study reveals that over half of Victoria's lawyers are utilizing AI in their work, with usage rising from 37% to 55% within the past year. Despite this increased adoption, only a quarter of lawyers have managed to reduce client fees due to efficiency gains, according to the 2026 census of 2,221 legal professionals conducted by the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner's legal services research centre.

The survey also found that clients seeking guidance from chatbots has added more workload to lawyers' responsibilities, requiring them to correct errors generated by AI.

The study highlights a growing disparity in AI usage across different age groups and legal specializations. AI use is most prevalent in trade practices (85%), banking and finance (78%), and information technology and telecommunications (78%). Conversely, it is least common in criminal law (29%), family law (45%), and administrative law (46%). A majority (79%) of lawyers reported using consumer chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Copilot, while 22% employed legal-specific AI tools.

Dr. Georgie Rychner, the principal researcher and co-author of the report, pointed out that fee reductions were more frequently observed among lawyers catering to business clients (34%) compared to individual clients (23%). She also noted that some lawyers reported AI enabling them to take on work previously deemed uneconomical (18%).

However, the researchers found that the efficiency gains from AI use were not as substantial as anticipated, possibly due to the increased verification efforts of 89% of practitioners to ensure the accuracy of AI outputs.

While the majority of lawyers acknowledged the rise in AI usage among clients (46%), they also reported receiving inaccurate or misleading information (41%). Nearly half of the respondents indicated that client reliance on AI led to increased time and effort required to correct errors in AI-generated documents. These findings underscore the challenges faced by legal practitioners in navigating the complexities of AI integration within their practices and the need for further research to address these issues effectively.