Executive Director's Page • July/August 2026

AI and the Texas Lawyer: Adoption Is Already Here

Lately, it can seem like the conversation in legal circles is all AI, all the time. We’re all trying to figure out how it works and if it can work for us. And while we’re still wrapping our heads around it, the technology is changing fast.

The volunteers and staff at your State Bar are working tirelessly to provide Texas lawyers, judges, and other legal professionals with tools and information to succeed with AI. But every now and then, we need to pause and take the temperature of the membership to better understand how you are thinking and feeling about AI, and how you’re using it (if at all), to ensure we’re creating the programs and information you want and need.

Our Research and Analysis Department just tabulated the results of one such effort: the 2026 AI in the Practice of Law Survey, a project of the State Bar Emerging Technology Committee. I wanted to bring you a snapshot of what we found and, where available, compare it with your answers to our 2024 AI survey to illustrate how things have changed over the past two years. In addition to guiding our work at the State Bar, we hope you’ll find this information useful as you determine your own path forward with this technology.

So, let’s get to it. AI use among Texas attorneys rose significantly from 2024 to 2026, from 30% to 62%. ChatGPT is the most widely used AI tool, used by 62% of respondents who reported using AI, while the most-used legal-specific tool is Westlaw/CoCounsel, at 30%. The most common use of AI is for legal research (53%). For attorneys who choose not to use AI, most cited ethical concerns as their primary reason (59%).

As the largest legal occupation group in Texas, private practitioners make up the highest percentage of AI users overall (67%). However, corporate/in-house counsel remain the highest adopting legal-occupation group (87% in 2026, up from 51% in 2024).

The average AI adoption rate of attorneys licensed 15 years or fewer is 73%, compared to 60% of those licensed more than 15 years. The AI adoption rate also varies by firm size, with 87% of firms with 25 attorneys or more adopting AI into their practices, compared to 64% for smaller firms. To read the complete survey report, including the questions and answers, as well as the comments attorneys submitted, go to texasbar.com/research.

A note on these findings: The survey was sent to a random sample of 30,000 licensed Texas attorneys, and 1,553 responded. These results have a margin of error of plus or minus 2%. The attorneys who participated in the survey skewed a bit older and more experienced than the average Texas lawyer, and there was a higher percentage of solo practitioners in the mix than in the overall bar membership.

While you’re thinking about AI in the law, don’t forget to review the tools we’ve created for you. Check out the State Bar of Texas AI Toolkit at texasbar.com/aitoolkit and our Ask a Human series of webinars and videos full of AI how-to’s and answers to your questions from experts at texasbarpractice.com.

Sincerely,

TREY APFFEL
Executive Director, State Bar of Texas
Editor in Chief, Texas Bar Journal