Progress Software: 85% of Lawyers Use AI — But 77% Still Manual, 47% Face 4-Day Intake Delays

Progress Software's State of Legal 2026 report — based on a nationwide survey of 304 U.S.-based lawyers — found that AI adoption is now essentially universal (85% of lawyers report using AI for research, document summarization, case management, and intake support), but the efficiency payoff has not followed. 77% say much of their work remains manual, 73% report workflows with too many steps, and only 24% say a significant portion of their daily work is automated. The intake data is the most actionable finding for mid-sized firm leaders: 47% say intake takes four days or longer, against a benchmark of two to three days or less that most practitioners believe it should take — yet 94% agree that faster intake would improve outcomes and 92% say automation would enable them to take on more business. The operational gap is not that mid-sized firms lack AI tools — it is that the tools are deployed as individual productivity aids rather than as workflow infrastructure, and the firm-level efficiency gain that would translate into competitive advantage has not been captured. Addressing the automation gap at the intake layer is the highest-ROI, fastest-payback entry point the data consistently identifies.