Victorian Lawyers' AI Use Jumps to 55% as Only 26% Cut Client Fees
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Oct 29
Victorian Lawyers' AI Use Jumps to 55% as Only 26% Cut Client Fees
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Oct 29
Summary
A survey of 2,221 Victorian lawyers found AI use rose to 55% in 2026 from 37% a year earlier, with adoption strongest in trade practices at 85% and weakest in criminal law at 29%.
Only 26% said those efficiency gains lowered client fees, rising to 34% for business clients versus 23% for individual fee-paying clients, suggesting savings have not broadly flowed through to consumers.
Consumer chatbots dominated that uptake: 79% of AI-using lawyers reported using tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot, while 22% used legal-specific tools alone.
Client use of AI is also adding work, with 46% of lawyers saying clients arrived with inaccurate or misleading AI-derived information and 41% receiving AI-generated documents that needed correction.
Australian courts and regulators have been tightening scrutiny since 2023; the federal court issued generative-AI rules in April after false-citation cases triggered sanctions and investigations.