Consilio 2026 Global Survey Finds Legal Teams Under Pressure to Implement AI at Scale as Technology Decisions Overtake Work Volume as Biggest Challenge
WASHINGTON--( BUSINESS WIRE)--A just-released survey from Consilio, a global, tech-enabled legal solutions leader, finds that for the very first time the volume of work is no longer the biggest pain point for the legal industry. Instead: understanding, selecting and deploying new legal technologies has overtaken work volume as the biggest challenge for legal professionals.
“We are at a structural inflection point,” said Michael Pontrelli, Chief Client Experience Officer, Consilio. “AI is no longer peripheral; it is being embedded into everyday workflows, but often without the coordination layer required to connect technology, data, governance, and people into a system that can scale.”
Consilio’s 2026 Global Survey Report, The Age of the Innovation Orchestrator: Moving from AI adoption to commanding intelligence, examines how corporate legal departments and law firms are responding to accelerating AI adoption and the mounting pressure to operationalize intelligence with governance, trust, and accountability.
“Legal teams are not debating whether AI belongs in the workflow anymore,” Pontrelli said. “They are being asked to make it operational and accountable. Our 2026 findings show the next challenge is coordination, not experimentation. The teams that build shared standards, oversight, and an operating rhythm for intelligence will be the ones that can scale AI without adding risk or complexity.”
This year’s survey data points to a clear change in the legal mandate, with findings including:
“This year’s research shows that AI innovation is outpacing the adoption and governance frameworks designed to manage it,” said Raj Chandrasekar, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at Consilio. “Without a cohesive model for integration and oversight, organizations risk fragmentation. As legal leaders are increasingly evaluated on trust and accountability, they must take a deliberate, standards-driven approach that allows gains in individual workflows to scale across the broader function.”
The report outlines five strategic priorities for legal leaders entering this next phase, including designing legal as a coordinated operating system, establishing a unifying platform foundation, curating an interoperable technology ecosystem, embedding governance as an enabler for scale, and aligning talent and partners to support orchestration.
Consilio will discuss findings from The Age of the Innovation Orchestrator at Legalweek 2026 in New York. The team will be at Booth 100, the first booth on the left as you enter the expo hall, as well as its client lounge in the 4 th floor pavilion.
The full report is available here: https://www.consilio.com/global-survey-report-2026. For the sixth year, Consilio surveyed legal professionals across the globe with a 50/50 split of corporate legal and law firm respondents.
About Consilio
Consilio is a global, tech-enabled legal solutions leader that helps corporations and law firms reduce risk, control cost, and improve outcomes across the legal lifecycle. Combining advanced AI with expert services, Consilio delivers end-to-end capabilities spanning eDiscovery and review, investigations and compliance, legal data advisory and transformation, and flexible legal talent. With global scale and a strong track record running complex matters, Consilio equips legal teams to operationalize intelligence with the governance and accountability modern work requires.
Learn more at www.consilio.com.