Legal Trends 2025 / 2026 - What Our Lawyer Polling Reveals
Insights From Simple Polling Across The Legal Profession
What Our Polling Says About Legal Trends This Year
We ran a series of simple polls across lawyers throughout the year, with responses ranging up to 200 participants per poll.
We just asked lawyers some simple questions about things we believe might matter to them.
A few very clear signals came through and we thought we would take the opportunity to present them as an end of year wrap up and summary.
Work-Life Balance Is Now The Priority
Work-life balance topped most polls we did that included it as an option.
It ranked as the top factor for:
Job satisfaction (48%)
Career development priorities (62%)
Achieving a fulfilling personal life (63%)
Lawyers are actively pursuing work/life balance in various ways regarding how they work.
AI Is Here But Human Judgment Still Matters
Lawyers continue to expect technology such as AI, to have a very big impact on the profession.
58% say technology will have the biggest impact on the legal industry in the next five years
61% believe advanced AI will define the next decade
67% identify advanced AI as the key technology to watch
At the same time, confidence in AI remains cautious:
41% rate the quality of AI in the legal profession as a fail
68% say fake citations in court are caused by blind trust in AI
63% say using AI can feel like cutting corners
Only 48% say generative AI is already having a meaningful impact
51% say it is still too soon to tell whether AI will create more or less work for lawyers
Appropriately, 46% believe AI-generated legal work should be supervised by a senior lawyer, and 63% say AI literacy should be mandatory.
Soft Skills Are A Real Advantage Over AI
Despite the strong focus on technology, lawyers continue to prioritise distinctly human skills.
Relationship-building was identified as the most valuable early-career skill (41%)
Strategic foresight was rated the most critical workplace skill (45%)
Face-to-face networking remains the most effective method (71%)
Even future-proofing efforts reflect this mindset, with 42% focusing on sharpening soft skills.
Law remains a people business.
AI is the leverage for much of its legal work, but the lawyer with hopefully their enhanced soft skills remains front and centre.
The Big Takeaway
Lawyers want better lives, smarter work, and more attuned technology that supports their professionalism in what they recognise as a new system of working as professionals.
This we believe will be a key theme in 2026.
Paul Ippolito is Principal of Ippolito Advisory. Paul is available for media enquiries, speaking and consulting. You can contact him here.
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