1. Actionstep: 95% of Midsize Firms Use AI, but 46% Lack Governance to Manage It
Actionstep's fourth annual midsize law firm report — based on 274 professionals surveyed with Hanover Research — finds that AI adoption is now near-universal (95%) among firms in the 10–200 lawyer range, yet nearly half lack confidence their firm has adequate policies and safeguards to govern what has been deployed.
BY MIDSIZED DESK · JUNE 2, 2026 · 1 MIN READ
Actionstep's fourth annual midsize law firm report — based on 274 professionals surveyed with Hanover Research — finds that AI adoption is now near-universal (95%) among firms in the 10–200 lawyer range, yet nearly half lack confidence their firm has adequate policies and safeguards to govern what has been deployed. Seventy-eight percent expect clients to demand lower fees and faster results as a direct consequence of AI efficiency, while 62% worry that over-reliance on AI will erode lawyers' critical-thinking capabilities over time. The governance gap is the central finding: most firms are running AI across fragmented, multi-tool stacks with no clear visibility into which tools have been vetted, which outputs are reviewed, or what clients have been told. For midsized operators, this is the clearest data point of the quarter — adoption without governance is a professional liability exposure, not a competitive advantage.