AI Reaches Near Universal Adoption in the Legal Industry Finds 2026 Secretariat and ACEDS Artificial Intelligence Report

Secretariat and ACEDS' 2026 AI Report reveals how AI is transforming the legal industry, from adoption and workflows to governance, risks, and opportunities.

ATLANTA, GA, UNITED STATES, July 23, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The 2026 Artificial Intelligence Report, conducted by Secretariat in collaboration with ACEDS, reveals AI has reached near universal adoption across the legal industry. No longer is the question whether AI is being used, but rather which AI technologies are being used, how they are being integrated into everyday legal workflows, and what risks must be addressed to ensure use is accurate, defensible, and aligned with professional and ethical responsibilities.

Now in Secretariat's second year conducting the study alongside ACEDS, the survey highlights an industry moving rapidly from experimentation to operational adoption. Generative AI has become an increasingly common part of legal practice, with respondents reporting growing use across document drafting, legal research, web search, document review, document summarization, eDiscovery, and other core legal activities.

Key findings from the report include:

- 91% of respondents used Generative AI in the past year, demonstrating a major shift from experimentation to everyday use
- Data privacy and confidentiality remain the leading barrier to AI adoption (57%), with hallucinations rising sharply (46%) to become the second-highest barrier ahead of cost (40%)
- 64% of respondents expect their organization’s investment in AI to increase over the next 12 months, reflecting continued momentum in adoption and deployment

The findings also underscore that accelerated adoption brings both rewards and risks. As organizations realize gains in speed and efficiency, they are also navigating growing concerns around privacy, confidentiality, trust, and defensibility.

Secretariat Managing Director Richard Finkelman comments, “We are seeing a clear acceleration in the adoption of commercial GenAI tools within traditional eDiscovery workflows, with these technologies now being actively used across core discovery processes. At the same time, recent cases are bringing the risks into sharper focus, particularly around hallucinations and data privacy. Expert discovery is now the next frontier, and while adoption today remains nascent, we expect it to shift rapidly toward more mainstream use over the next 12 months.”

“AI has moved from a future-facing conversation to a day-to-day reality for legal teams. What our legal community wants now is not hype, but practical guidance: which tools are being used, where they fit into workflows, and how to adopt them responsibly without compromising confidentiality, accuracy, or defensibility,” said Maribel Rivera, VP of Strategy and Client Engagement at ACEDS. “This report makes clear that education and governance have to keep pace with adoption. As GenAI becomes part of document drafting, review, research, and emerging expert discovery workflows, legal professionals need the skills to ask better questions, validate outputs, and keep human oversight at the center of every process.”

The 2026 Secretariat and ACEDS Artificial Intelligence Report provides valuable insights for legal professionals and organizations looking to stay ahead of AI trends and tackle the challenges of AI adoption head-on.

Click here to download a copy of the report.

About Secretariat — Secretariat is a global disputes and forensic advisory firm trusted in critical legal, risk, and regulatory matters around the world. With more than 700 in the world’s key financial and arbitration centers, we have diverse expertise helping clients navigate high-stakes, complex business and legal challenges, including disputes; delay and quantum analysis; international arbitration and litigation; economic damages; engineering; valuations; forensic accounting; government contracting; investigations; and economic analysis, analytics, and strategy. Learn more about our people and capabilities at https://secretariat-intl.com/.
Secretariat Media Contact: Nathan Jenks T:+1 312 395 7307 E:njenks@secretariat-intl.com

About ACEDS — The Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS), part of leading legal education provider BARBRI Global, is the world’s leading organization for training and certification in e-discovery, information governance, and related disciplines. ACEDS provides training to corporate legal departments, law firms, the government, service providers, and institutions of higher learning. Our flagship CEDS certification is recognized worldwide and used to verify skills and competence in electronic discovery for organizations and individuals through training, certification, and continuing education. The CEDS credential is held by practitioners at the largest Fortune 500 companies, Am Law 200 firms and government agencies. ACEDS has 30 chapters in most major US cities, Canada, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Australia. Our goal is to help professionals and organizations reduce the costs and risks associated with e-discovery while helping to improve and verify their skills and advance their careers and overall technology competence in e-discovery and related fields. Learn more at www.aceds.org.
ACEDS Media Contact: Katie Saylor T: 913.219.4444 E:ksaylor@aceds.org

About BARBRI — BARBRI is the global leader in technology-enabled legal education with leadership positions in the US and the UK. Dedicated to providing unparalleled innovation and excellence in legal education, BARBRI delivers outstanding success to learners by providing the most trusted and industry leading products under one unified experience and across every step of the legal learner’s path. Building on the success of its core bar courses, which have helped more than 1.5 million lawyers around the world pass a U.S. bar exam, BARBRI offers a comprehensive suite of learning solutions for higher education institutions and law-related businesses empowering every step of legal learning journey. Founded in 1967, BARBRI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with offices throughout the United States and around the world.

Nathan Jenks
Secretariat Advisors LLC
+1 312-395-7307
email us here

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.