Legaltech Budgets Doubling by 2028 — AI to Handle 50% of Contract Reviews by 2029
Gartner's latest forecast projects that in-house legaltech budgets will double worldwide by 2028, and that by 2029, 60% of legal departments will operate AI-based systems capable of resolving half of all legal requests without human intervention. Fifty percent of contract reviews, Gartner projects, will be handled by self-service AI within that same window. The implication for outside counsel is d
BY FRONTIER DESK · JUNE 30, 2026 · 1 MIN READ
Gartner's latest forecast projects that in-house legaltech budgets will double worldwide by 2028, and that by 2029, 60% of legal departments will operate AI-based systems capable of resolving half of all legal requests without human intervention. Fifty percent of contract reviews, Gartner projects, will be handled by self-service AI within that same window. The implication for outside counsel is direct: the volume of routine legal requests currently escalated to outside firms will compress as in-house AI absorbs that capacity. Firms that have built revenue on high-volume, process-intensive work — routine contract review, standard transactional support, compliance queries — face the sharpest exposure. BD teams should use this data point in internal strategy conversations to accelerate the shift toward higher-complexity, judgment-intensive positioning before budget cycles align with client AI deployment timelines.