AI in Professional Services: Where Firms Start, and What Holds Them Back
The tasks law, accounting and consulting firms most often hand to AI first, the two blockers that stall them, and how to get past both.
Corrected on September 28, 2026. An earlier version of this article presented adoption percentages and productivity figures as "new data" without a source. They have been removed.
In law, accounting and consulting, the question has shifted from whether to use AI to where to start. The starting points are remarkably consistent, and so are the reasons firms stall.
Where firms usually start
- Document review and summarisation: contracts, statements, discovery, due diligence.
- Research: first-pass summaries of regulations, case law or industry material, checked by a professional.
- Client communication: drafting emails, engagement letters and plain-English explanations.
All three have the same shape: high volume, a recognisable pattern, and a professional who reviews the output before it reaches a client.
What holds firms back
Confidentiality. Firms hold client information under professional duties. The answer is choosing tools whose terms keep client data out of training and under your control, and writing a short policy on what may be put into which tool.
Nobody owns it. AI projects stall when they are everyone's side project. Name one person responsible, give them a small budget and a single first use case, and review results after 90 days.
What this means for your firm
You do not need a firm-wide programme to start. You need one high-volume task, a tool you are comfortable with on confidentiality, a person who owns it, and a before-and-after measure of the time it takes.
Practical takeaway: Pick the document or drafting task your professionals repeat most, time it this month, and pilot AI on that task alone.
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