By Basant El-Faramawy
More than half of Victorian lawyers now use artificial intelligence in their practices, yet only about a quarter have passed efficiency savings on to clients through lower fees, according to a new census released Friday.
Surge in AI adoption
The 2026 census of 2,221 lawyers, conducted by the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner's legal services research centre, found 55% of practitioners using AI, up sharply from 37% a year earlier. Adoption was highest in trade practices (85%), banking and finance (78%) and information technology and telecommunications (78%), while criminal law (29%), family law (45%) and administrative law (46%) lagged behind.
Fee reductions limited
Despite the rapid uptake, just 26% of respondents said AI use had led to reduced client fees. Fee cuts were more common among lawyers serving business clients (34%) than those serving individual fee-paying clients (23%). About 18% reported that AI enabled them to take on work that would previously have been uneconomical.
Consumer chatbots dominate
Consumer-grade chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot were used by 79% of lawyers, while only 22% relied on legal-specific AI tools. Principal researcher Dr Georgie Rychner noted that efficiency gains have not matched expectations, partly because 89% of practitioners reported verifying AI output accuracy in 2025, a step that may offset time savings.
Client AI use adds workload
Lawyers also reported a growing burden from clients who use AI for their own legal research. Forty-six percent said clients arrived with inaccurate or misleading information generated by AI, and 41% encountered AI-produced documents requiring correction. Nearly half of respondents said client AI use increased the time and effort required, compared with 19% who saw a reduction.
Regulatory response
Australian courts and legal regulators have been grappling with AI's rise since 2023. A Victorian lawyer was sanctioned last year for false citations, the first such case nationally, while investigations were launched in Western Australia and New South Wales. The Federal Court issued new rules on generative AI in April, and High Court Chief Justice Stephen Gageler warned that AI-generated content in legal cases had reached an "unsustainable phase."
