Most In-House Litigation Teams Using Advanced AI, Despite Risks

About 60% of company litigation departments let employees use customized generative AI tools, a Norton Rose Fulbright annual survey on litigation trends found.

“Notably, more than six in 10 are deploying customized generative and agentic AI tools, with the share of those using customized generative AI (64%) up 3 percentage points year-over-year,” according to the survey being released Wednesday.

Norton Rose polled more than 400 US general counsel and in-house litigation personnel in September 2025.

Despite the increase in usage, corporate counsel remain wary of the technology. About 59% said that “managing litigation risks” because of artificial intelligence has been a challenge.

“There is quite a bit of concern about how AI is being used, both in-house and by outside counsel,” said Rachel Roosth, a partner at Norton Rose. “For example, there are some respondents who don’t want their outside counsel using AI at all, while there are others who feel comfortable with it and even want their outside counsel to use AI so that they can lower their costs and create efficiencies.”

The technology’s adoption remains uneven across legal workflows. The use of predictive analytics was the least popular AI tool for litigation prevention, with 28% of organizations using it.

Still, in-house legal departments are receptive to outside counsel using generative artificial intelligence if it leads to reduced costs and more efficiencies, with the average level of support ticking up slightly compared to last year.

“Those who support AI use by outside counsel cite cost efficiencies and time savings (37% each), as well as staffing efficiencies (29%) and improved accuracy (27%),” the survey said.

The survey helps attorneys and companies see how their AI usage compares to others, Roosth said. “It’s a good chance to do a bit of navel gazing. And see how their organization compares to others,” she said.