Law firms face cliff edge as clients prepare to insource with AI, survey finds

In-house lawyers believe the law firms they instruct are keeping all the savings from adopting AI

A new Juro survey of 130+ in-house lawyers finds 44% think they could cut outside counsel spend in half and still manage risk effectively, by insourcing with AI

This is a wake-up call for Big Law. If you charge premium rates for work that AI can do in seconds, clients will vote with their feet. Firms stuck in the billable hour paradigm are on borrowed time.”

— Richard Mabey

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, February 10, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Juro, the intelligent contracting platform, has released data from its ‘State of In-house 2026’ report, suggesting that law firms are sitting on a "time bomb" as in-house teams prepare to reclaim work through AI solutions.

Juro interviewed more than 130 senior lawyers across Europe and the US, with the majority having CLO, GC or Head of Legal titles.

When asked if they could cut outside counsel spend in half and still manage risk effectively, 44% of respondents were ‘somewhat confident’ or ‘very confident’ that this would work.

When asked how much of the work currently sent out to law firms could be insourced using AI, 68% said more than 10%. 20% said more than 25%. If anything close to this level of insourcing comes to pass, law firms are facing a huge gap in their billable hours.

Juro’s survey also found that in-house lawyers expect that where law firms work faster due to AI, they should pass those savings onto their clients. However, most in-house lawyers do not know whether or not their firms are actually using AI.

Among those who do, 73% believe the law firm is keeping all or most of the savings made by using the technology. Meanwhile, fees are generally going up - not down.

Richard Mabey, CEO and co-founder of Juro, said:

"This is a wake-up call for Big Law. You can’t charge premium rates for work that AI now handles in seconds, and not expect clients to vote with their feet. With 68% of in-house teams planning to claw back work for themselves, firms stuck in the billable hour paradigm are on borrowed time.”

To read the full report, including findings on stress & burnout, AI adoption and more, read 'State of In-house 2026' at https://juro.com/state-of-in-house-2026.

Tom Bangay
Juro
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