In late 2024, the American Bar Association's Artificial Intelligence TechReport found AI tools in use at about 18% of solo practices (American Bar Association, 2024 TechReport). By 2026, Clio's survey of 1,702 U.S. legal professionals found that 71% of solo practitioners and 75% of small firms use AI (Clio, 2026). Most respondents were Clio customers, and some were support staff. 8am reported 69% among solo practitioners and firms of two to five attorneys (8am, 2026). Clio and 8am both sell software to law firms.

Part of that jump comes from who was surveyed and how each survey defines use. In Clio's own survey from 2024, most solo and small-firm lawyers described their AI use as minimal, and only 8% of solos used it widely (Clio, 2025 report). Most firms still have no AI policy: in Clio's 2026 survey, 57% of solos and 55% of small firms report none.

This article is general information and gives no legal or ethics advice.

What to automate: the coordination work

Coordination work is the unbilled work around a matter that needs no law license. A client fills out an intake form and a staff member retypes it. A paralegal sends the same document request for the third time. Finding time is the biggest barrier to adopting new technology for 27% of solos and 33% of small firms, according to Clio.

The tasks worth piloting first:

Pick one of these, measure hours before and after on real matters, then decide whether to keep it.

In 8am's survey, 35% of respondents reported saving one to five hours a week with AI and 12% reported six to ten. Research for this article found no independent, measured study of small-firm coordination work.

Checking effort should match the task. ABA guidance gives the example of a lawyer who tested a contract-summarizing tool on a sample and, with confidence in the results, did not review every contract by hand. How much checking is enough depends on the tool and the task. Coordination tasks suit AI because a person can check the output before it reaches a client or a court. Deadlines need the strictest check, because a wrong date can stay hidden until the deadline passes.

What stays with the attorney

The ABA says generative AI "cannot replace the judgment and experience necessary" for advising clients or crafting documents, and a lawyer "may not abdicate" responsibility on tasks that call for professional judgment.

The ethics duties

These duties come from ABA Formal Opinion 512, issued July 29, 2024. It is ABA guidance, so check your own state's ethics rules.

Billing

Hourly billers charge for the time actually worked. If a tool drafts a document in a few minutes, the bill reflects the minutes spent on input and on reviewing the draft. Flat fees must stay reasonable, and a fee set before a tool cut the work sharply may no longer be reasonable. Some tools work like office equipment. The opinion's example is grammar-check software. Such a tool is overhead, and clients cannot be billed for it unless the firm told them in advance or they agreed. A per-use outside AI service can be billed as an expense at actual cost.

Clio's data show hourly-only billing fell from 53% to 43% of small firms since 2019. For a flat-fee practice, the time AI saves can go to margin if the fee stays reasonable. For an hourly biller, each hour saved is an hour not billed. The firm has to decide whether to keep selling hours or to price the outcome. Only 31% of small firms and 32% of solos reported higher revenue with AI, against 59% of enterprise firms.

Sample AI policy outline for law firms

A firm without a policy leaves tool choices to whoever on the staff tried one first. This outline is a starting point to adapt to your firm.

  1. Permitted and prohibited tools. List the AI tools lawyers and staff may use, the tasks each may do, and who approves additions.
  2. Client information and consent. Client information stays out of tools that learn from what users type unless the client has given informed consent.
  3. Verification before filing. A lawyer reviews every AI output, including each citation, before it is filed.
  4. Supervision and training. Managing lawyers set the rules and train everyone who uses the tools.
  5. Vendor vetting. Read each tool's terms of use and privacy policy before anyone uses it.
  6. Billing. Hourly matters bill actual time, flat fees stay reasonable, and a tool that works like office equipment is overhead.
  7. Client communication. State when the firm discloses AI use to a client: when asked, and when it bears on the client's decisions or the scope of the engagement.
  8. Errors and corrections. Name who corrects a filing or client document that contains an AI error.

Court rules for Nebraska and the Kansas City area

AI rules for Nebraska lawyers and AI rules for Kansas City lawyers.

Sources

Book an AI audit

KRC Consulting runs an AI audit built on interviews with a firm's people. It produces a ranked list of AI opportunities and a roadmap, presented to the firm's leadership. Schedule a call or write to hello@krc.consulting.