Local teams in Australia are ready to scale responsible AI adoption, and with greater confidence than global counterparts, new findings from Harvey suggest.
A recently-conducted, independent survey of 200 lawyers across North America, Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and Asia-Pacific (APAC) from Harvey provides insights into how practitioners work today across devices, contexts, and workflows – and what these reveal about the next phase of digital maturity in the legal profession.
The findings show, the provider said, “a profession that is highly mobile, increasingly AI-enabled, and poised for deeper workflow transformation, yet still constrained by fragmented, desktop-centric tools”.
“Most AI tools remain tied to laptops and desktops, creating a clear disconnect between where lawyers work and where their AI lives,” Harvey said.
Harvey found that AI is now part of lawyers’ lives, both for personal and professional use, with two in five (40 per cent) saying they use AI multiple times per day, and four in five (80 per cent) using AI at least weekly.
Legal work, the provider found, is also more mobile than ever. 86 per cent use a smartphone or tablet as their primary away-from-desk device, and 89 per cent check work messages multiple times per day outside of standard working hours.
There is, however, a “mobile AI gap”, with 75 per cent accessing AI primarily on laptops or desktops, while only 20 per cent using AI primarily on smartphones.
Elsewhere, Harvey found that confidence in responsible AI use is high, albeit regionally nuanced.
On average, over three in four (77 per cent) feel either very or somewhat confident using AI responsibly for legal-related work – a number which increases to 84 per cent in APAC. The region also had the highest number of users who said they were very confident, at 32 per cent.
In conversation with Lawyers Weekly, Harvey’s Australian country manager Ashleigh Whittaker said that, in Australia, the findings confirm that “AI is no longer experimental”.
It is, she said, “deeply embedded in day-to-day legal work”.
“While four in five lawyers globally are now using AI at least weekly, the fact that confidence is highest in Australia and other APAC markets shows that local legal teams are ready to scale responsible AI adoption,” she said.
What also stands out, Whittaker added, is the generational signal.
“It’s impressive that so many senior leaders are embracing AI, with around three-quarters expecting it to significantly reshape their work in the next year,” she said.
“However, what’s more impressive is that this stands at 90 per cent among junior lawyers. Firms that harness this appetite amongst their younger cohorts, while setting the right guardrails, will move fastest on productivity, quality, and talent retention.”
At the same time, Whittaker continued, the research shows a persistent ‘mobile AI gap’: “lawyers work on the move, but many AI tools remain tied to the desktop”.
“For Australian legal teams, the next phase is bringing secure, legal-grade AI to every device and workflow,” she said.
Jerome Doraisamy is the managing editor of professional services (including Lawyers Weekly, HR Leader, Accountants Daily, and Accounting Times). He is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in New South Wales, and a board director of the Minds Count Foundation.
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