Robert Ambrogi Blog
AffiniPay, the parent company of a group of technology products for managing law practices and accepting online payments, including LawPay and MyCase, today released its 2025 Legal Industry Report, based on a survey of over 2,800 legal professionals, primarily in solo and small firms, and it reveals a profession at a critical technological crossroads, with generative AI, financial technology, and flexible work arrangements reshaping law firm operations and client services.
The report, written by Nicole Black, principal legal insight strategist at AffiniPay, provides insights on how legal professionals are adapting to rapid changes in how they work, where they work, how they get paid, and how they manage their businesses.
AI Adoption
Not surprisingly, a key focus of the report centers on the adoption and potential impact of generative artificial intelligence within the legal profession. It finds that nearly one-third (31%) of legal professionals are now personally using generative AI tools at work — up from 27% in the previous year.
This squares with data I reported last week from the American Bar Association’s 2024 Legal Technology Survey Report that said 30% of lawyers are ow using AI in their practices. The ABA survey gathered responses from 512 attorneys, versus the 2,800 surveyed in this AffinPay report.
But while individual lawyers are using AI, the AffiniPay survey finds that firm-wide adoption remains more measured, with only 21% of firms implementing legal-specific AI tools, down slightly from 24% in 2023.
“Many firms remain in the exploratory phase, testing pilot programs or focusing on specific use cases over full integration, signaling a curious and deliberate path forward,” the report says.
AI adoption varies widely by practice area, the survey finds. Immigration law leads individual AI usage, with 47% of practitioners incorporating AI into their workflows, compared to just 25% in trusts and estates. At the firm level, civil litigation firms took the lead, with 27% of them adopting AI.
When asked why they invested in legal-specific gen AI software, the most common reason firms gave was that the AI functionality was released into software they already trusted (43%). Other reasons they gave were:
- The software provider understands the firm’s specific workflow needs (33%).
- The firm has greater trust in the output of legal-specific tools compared to consumer alternatives (29%).
- The software provider understands lawyers’ ethical considerations (26%).
Despite growing interest, significant barriers persist. Forty-two percent of respondents express concerns about the reliability of AI results, while an equal percentage cite ethical considerations as a major obstacle. Another 41% prefer to wait for more mature and reliable AI technologies.
How Lawyers Use AI
The survey also looked at how lawyers are using AI in their practices. The most common uses are:
- Drafting correspondence, 54%.
- Brainstorming, 47%.
- General research, 46%.
- Drafting documents, 40%.
- Summarizing documents, 39%.
- Legal research, 38%.
- Editing documents, 35%.
- Drafting document templates, 32%.
- Analyze firm data/matters, 14%.
- Other, 7%
Through these uses, lawyers are seeing efficiency gains, according to the survey. At a firm-wide level, 61% said that AI adoption has “somewhat” increased efficiency, and 21% reported significant efficiency improvements.
As for the AI holdouts, firms that have not implemented AI are unsure when they will. Some 37% of firms without AI indicated they have a timeline for adoption of anywhere from the next month to the next year. Only a small minority of firms said they would wait longer.
Addressing Financial Challenges
The survey also looked at how law firms handle financial matters such as payroll, expenses, funding, accounting and trust accounting. It found that 68% of firms report fee collection to be a significant or moderate challenge. Other challenges firms cite include expense tracking (55%) and collection of reimbursable expenses (57%).
Online payment processing has seen growth, with 82% of firms now accepting credit or debit card payments — up from 78% in 2023. Firms leveraging these technologies report tangible benefits, with 59% noting improved collection rates and enhanced client satisfaction.
“Payment processing software is no longer a ‘nice-to-have,'” the report says. “It is an essential component of modern legal operations, and the benefits are evident in time savings and financial performance.”
The survey found that 33% percent of firms now use payroll software, with varying adoption rates across firm sizes. Solo practitioners show the lowest adoption at 23%, while firms with 51 or more lawyers have reached 50% implementation.
Firms using payroll software report saving between 1-15 hours monthly, with 36% saving 1-5 hours and 17% saving 6-10 hours.
The New Workplace
The report reveals a notable shift in workplace dynamics, with traditional full-time office models continuing to give way to more flexible arrangements. Only 28% of surveyed firms now require full-time in-office work. Another 21% use hybrid schedules for all firm members, 19% are fully remote, and 18% allow hybrid schedules for some of their staff.
Firm size significantly influences work models. Solo practitioners overwhelmingly favor remote work, with 31% operating entirely remotely. In contrast, small firms with 2-5 lawyers maintain more traditional approaches, with 36% remaining fully in-office.
Large firms (51+ lawyers) have most enthusiastically embraced hybrid models, with 61% offering flexible schedules to all team members.
Remote work technologies have become integral to legal operations. Seventy-six percent of firms have adopted cloud-based remote working technologies, with video conferencing (79%), e-signature (78%), and e-filing (76%) being the most widely used tools.
That said, many firms still have concerns about remote work that hinder their adoption of more flexible arrangements. Chief among them are data privacy (65%) and cybersecurity (61%). Even so, 66% of firms now view remote working technology as a critical component of their long-term business continuity planning.
“This year’s report underscores how legal professionals are navigating rapid technological change, with generative AI at the forefront,” the report concludes. “The profession is at a crossroads, balancing tradition with the growing need to adopt tools that improve efficiency, profitability, and client service.”
The full report covers a lot more than I have discussed here, so be sure to check out the full document.