Two-Thirds of COOs Cannot Document AI Efficiency Gains
The 2026 Blickstein Group Law Firm COO Survey Report (213 law firm COOs and principal administrators, covered July 24) found roughly two-thirds of respondents do not formally document the efficiency gains they credit to AI — meaning most of this year's AI spending rests on "belief rather than measurement." The finding is consistent with Axiom's survey finding that 83% of in-house teams cannot prov
BY FRONTIER DESK · JULY 28, 2026 · 1 MIN READ
The 2026 Blickstein Group Law Firm COO Survey Report (213 law firm COOs and principal administrators, covered July 24) found roughly two-thirds of respondents do not formally document the efficiency gains they credit to AI — meaning most of this year's AI spending rests on "belief rather than measurement." The finding is consistent with Axiom's survey finding that 83% of in-house teams cannot prove their AI spend paid off. For mid-sized firm leaders, the documentation gap is a governance risk, not just a management inconvenience: if AI is producing time savings that reduce billing hours but those savings are not documented, the firm is capturing neither the client transparency benefit (reduced bills) nor the internal margin benefit (same billing on less labor). The firms that build matter-level AI ROI measurement before they scale AI tools will be in a fundamentally different position when clients and partners demand accountability.