Consilio Survey 2026: AI Moves from Experiment to Scale

A newly released survey from Consilio, a global tech-enabled legal solutions provider, finds that for the first time, work volume is no longer the legal industry’s biggest challenge. Instead, understanding, selecting, and deploying new legal technologies has overtaken work volume as the biggest challenge for legal professionals.

“We are at a structural inflection point,” said Michael Pontrelli, Chief Client Experience Officer, Consilio. “AI is no longer peripheral; it is being embedded into everyday workflows, but often without the coordination layer required to connect technology, data, governance, and people into a system that can scale.”

Consilio’s 2026 Global Survey Report, The Age of the Innovation Orchestrator: Moving from AI adoption to commanding intelligence, examines how corporate legal departments and law firms are responding to accelerating AI adoption and the mounting pressure to operationalise intelligence with governance, trust, and accountability.

“Legal teams are not debating whether AI belongs in the workflow anymore,” Pontrelli said. “They are being asked to make it operational and accountable. Our 2026 findings show the next challenge is coordination, not experimentation. The teams that build shared standards, oversight, and an operating rhythm for intelligence will be the ones that can scale AI without adding risk or complexity.”

This year’s survey highlights a clear shift in the role and mandate of legal teams, including:

• 54 per cent of respondents cited legal technology selection and deployment as a primary challenge, compared with 52 per cent who cited work volume. As a result, legal teams are moving beyond decisions about whether to adopt AI and are increasingly focused on how to make AI work responsibly and consistently across the function.
• 50 per cent of all respondents and 71 per cent of in-house legal respondents now see themselves as a strategic business partner to the business. This is up from 21 per cent in 2025 and 4 per cent in 2024 – a huge shift.
• 65 per cent of respondents are intentionally redesigning how they use AI within their legal function, with 58 per cent reporting increased efficiency and productivity from AI use.
• 51 per cent of respondents cited emerging technology opportunities as the strongest driver of innovation, with leadership vision close behind at 41 per cent.
• 58 per cent of respondents cite accuracy and lack of trust as the biggest blocker to broader AI use, and 73 per cent say their top concern is incorrect or hallucinated outputs. Concerns about the loss of human judgment (53 per cent) and data security or confidentiality (53 per cent) are also prevalent.
• 7 per cent of respondents report having a documented AI governance framework that is actively followed, while 14 per cent report having no formal AI governance in place.
• 41 per cent of respondents say fragmented tools that do not integrate well are their primary systems issue, and 39 per cent report relying on manual workarounds between systems, which consume time, introduce risk, and limit productivity gains.
• 52 per cent of respondents identify improving document review efficiency and quality as their most critical legal data challenge, even as fragmented architectures hinder speed, accuracy, and consistency.

“This year’s research shows that AI innovation is outpacing the adoption and governance frameworks designed to manage it,” said Raj Chandrasekar, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at Consilio. “Without a cohesive model for integration and oversight, organisations risk fragmentation. As legal leaders are increasingly evaluated on trust and accountability, they must take a deliberate, standards-driven approach that allows gains in individual workflows to scale across the broader function.”

The report outlines five strategic priorities for legal leaders entering this next phase, including designing legal as a coordinated operating system, establishing a unifying platform foundation, curating an interoperable technology ecosystem, embedding governance as an enabler for scale, and aligning talent and partners to support orchestration.

The full report is available for download. For the sixth year, Consilio surveyed legal professionals worldwide, with an even split between corporate legal and law firm respondents.

About Consilio

Consilio is a global, tech-enabled legal solutions leader that helps corporations and law firms reduce risk, control costs, and improve outcomes across the legal lifecycle. Combining advanced AI with expert services, Consilio delivers end-to-end capabilities spanning eDiscovery and review, investigations and compliance, legal data advisory and transformation, and flexible legal talent.