"Legal departments are now held to the same innovation and tech enablement standards as other corporate departments," Pamela Salling, a co-author of the survey and managing director at MLA, told Law360 Pulse Monday. "AI offers scalable solutions, enhances the accuracy of legal work and aids in better risk management. AI tools have demonstrated measurable time savings, enhanced productivity, and cost reductions."
MLA surveyed 152 legal departments in 17 countries for its 2025 General Counsel AI Hiring Survey, which was released Thursday. According to the report, 39% of legal departments have changed their hiring criteria in response to AI, with 21% specifically requiring AI experience.
Legal departments leverage AI for tasks like contract review, e-discovery and legal research, which traditionally required significant manual effort, Salling said.
"Perhaps more importantly, companies are seeking adaptable lawyers who are innovative, able to evolve, commercially oriented, and business partners rather than overly risk-averse and resistant to change," she added.
The biggest priority for technical skills is general AI literacy, at 49%, while 29% of respondents said they seek change-management experience, and 20% want experience with certain AI tools. Meanwhile, 9% of employers called data analytics a helpful skill, and 2% seek programming or technical prowess.
In addition, 55% of legal departments said they're actively using or piloting AI. Of those, 35% said they are using standalone generative AI, 28% utilize contract review and analysis AI tools, and 20% use legal research devices.
"Historically, litigation teams were the primary adopters of AI in in-house legal teams," Salling said. "However, the introduction and transition to generative AI have made it applicable to all practice areas, both for large-scale processes like ... performing complex research and daily, small tasks, such as handling emails."
The top reason for using AI was time savings, according to 86% of respondents. That was followed by increasing productivity at 78%, reducing costs at 31%, improved accuracy at 27%, and better risk management at 11%. Just 5% of legal departments said they had not yet seen any benefits to AI.
Many legal departments said they are training current employees in AI, with 49% using internal training programs and 34% offering vendor provided training. Twenty percent of employers said they offer learning and development stipends and 9% utilize external vending certifications.
Salling told Law360 Pulse that attorneys with technology and change management skills can distinguish themselves through action.
"They can no longer just have ideas on how to use AI or claim digital team wins as their own," she said. "Great talent will come with innovative ideas and use cases, be able to execute the ideas, bring them to completion and importantly, measure the impact."
When asked what stage of AI implementation their legal team is in, 37% said the "implementing and piloting specific tools stage," 34% are "evaluating potential AI solutions," and 18% are "actively using integrated tools," with another 12% saying they are not currently considering AI implementation.
"Overall, the report illustrates that AI is not just a future consideration in hiring — hiring has already evolved," Salling said. "AI is here to stay, with only 5% of GCs surveyed not reporting a measurable benefit from implementing AI."
--Editing by Adam LoBelia.
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