Some 31% of European legal departments, compared with 16% globally, are actively promoting junior lawyers into strategic shadowing, risk analysis and business advisory roles earlier in their career while AI handles routine work, according to the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) 2026 ‘In-house legal AI landscape’ survey report.
The report found AI adoption near universal among in-house teams, with 83% of European and 85% globally using it for legal work. Only 10% of European departments remained fully manual in contract review and 21% in outside counsel invoice auditing. There was slower uptake in intellectual property and patent management and litigation preparation, with roughly one third of respondents considering AI ‘not applicable’ for these areas.
AI use has made little difference to recruitment, however—43% of European departments do not measure tech fluency or AI competency when hiring.
