Law Firms Bet on Both AI and Humans, For Now

Kirkland & Ellis is making headlines with its $500 million bet on artificial intelligence, but the Chicago firm is also expanding in another way: square footage. Over the past year, it launched new offices in Nashville and Tokyo.

This approach reflects a larger industry trend. Despite anxiety about AI displacing attorneys, the data shows that top firms aren’t yet choosing between technology and people. They’re cautiously betting on both.

Kirkland is among dozens of firms that have simultaneously grown their office footprints, expanded practice areas, and poured money into AI development over the past year.

According to Bloomberg Law’s Leading Law Firms survey, the biggest area of industry growth, at 87 firms, was investing in new technology. Most participating firms also indicated they were expanding their office space, with 61 firms doing so, or adding new practice areas, with 55 firms.

Read more: See which firms came out on top overall in Bloomberg Law’s Leading Law Firms.

The data, and interviews with firm leaders, industry analysts, and legal job recruiters, suggests firms are maintaining healthy headcounts for now, while also expanding AI usage.

The growing square footage is “literally a concrete sign that firms feel they will continue to have a lot of humans coming to the office,” said Kate Reder Sheikh, a partner at legal recruiter Major, Lindsey & Africa.

Man vs. Machine

The physical expansions are taking place on both coasts and around the globe.

Ballard Spahr launched a San Francisco office this year while developing two internal AI platforms and starting a new team focused on retail and e-commerce. Ballard’s headcount has grown more than 20% year over year, the firm said.

“Strategic, sustained growth remains a top priority,” said firm chair Peter Michaud.

Mintz this year also expanded to a 29,000-square-foot San Francisco office to give itself more space and a one-floor environment with common areas that managing attorney Steve Osborn said felt more collaborative.

Mintz also spent on legal tech software. Osborn said the firm is not “currently looking at reducing headcount.”

Tucker Ellis is another firm that, over the past year, spent on legal tech software while opening a new Manhattan office.

AI “is changing the way our younger lawyers are going to practice—it’s changing the way all of our lawyers are going to practice—but I don’t necessarily see it as replacing lawyers at this time,” said Michael Ruttinger, co-chair of the firm’s legal issues group.

Similar Numbers, Different Roles

In conversations with lawyers, the emphasis is often on “at this time.”

Even if numbers stay largely the same—or expand—roles may change, and firms may still tilt away from associate attorneys or legal assistants and toward lateral hires and partners.

“The historical model of a certain ratio of legal assistants to partners may not make sense anymore if they can automate workflows,” said Jennifer Johnson, chief executive of executive search and consulting firm Calibrate. “AI is changing the makeup of the workforce, but it doesn’t necessarily mean less headcount.”

The hiring picture isn’t uniform, said Reder Sheikh. “The lateral market is the opposite of cold right now,” she said. “But some firms are going to have smaller classes because we are living in a time of geopolitical and macroeconomic surprise and instability, so firms are wary of making an investment that will not come to fruition for three years.”

Geography may also play a role. London saw a drop in legal job postings between 2022 and 2026, according to recruitment website Adzuna. In the US, legal services jobs were up last month over the year prior and above May 2022 levels, Department of Labor data shows.

Investing in AI isn’t the same as using it widely. Ruttinger described a careful process of rolling out the tool and training attorneys to use it. About three quarters of the firm now has a license to do so, he said.

“There’s still quite a bit of reticence on many partners’ behalfs to really rely on AI,” said law firm AI consultant Adam Feldman of EmpiriLaw. Despite a rush to spend money on AI legal tools, “I think it’s gonna be a slower process of integrating them into law than in other industries that are already more comfortable with new tech.”

That means humans will still be part of the picture for the foreseeable future, even at firms that are going all-in on AI.

“AI products are getting better every day,” Osborn said. “But the human still needs to be there.”