Which AI Product Is Most Popular Among Law Firms? Findings of ILTA’s Tech Survey May Surprise You

Microsoft 365 Copilot is the most widely used or explored AI tool among law firms, cited by 76% of respondents in the International Legal Technology Association's 2026 technology survey of more than 500 ILTA member firms representing 140,000 lawyers across a dozen countries. The survey found 94% of firms are using or exploring generative AI tools, up from 80% last year, with Thomson Reuters CoCounsel (44%), Anthropic's Claude (44%) and Harvey (43%) effectively tied for second. Only Microsoft Copilot (52%) and Westlaw Advantage (50%) have been fully deployed among lawyers at at least half of respondent firms, while iManage AI Enrichment (91%) and Ask iManage (80%) lead the products firms are currently testing or piloting.

At the recent conference of the International Legal Technology Association, the big legal AI vendors CoCounsel, Harvey and Legora had outsized presences, with ginormous booths in the exhibit hall, major-name performers at their parties, and advertising so ubiquitous it even popped up in people’s Uber apps. See: Have We Reached ‘Peak Legal Tech?’ Sure Felt That Way At ILTACON this Week https://www.lawnext.com/2026/08/have-we-reached-peak-legal-tech-sure-felt-that-way-at-iltacon-this-week.html . So which of those is the preferred choice of law firms? Turns out, the answer is “None of the above,” at least according to the findings of the just released 2026 technology survey https://www.iltanet.org/resources/publications/surveys/ts26 . The survey spanned over 500 law firms — all ILTA members — from small boutiques to global giants, representing a dozen countries and 140,000 lawyers. Of them, the vast majority, 94%, say they are using or exploring generative AI tools, up from 80% last year. But when ILTA asked the firms which tool they are using or exploring, the leader by a wide margin was Microsoft 365 Copilot, used by 76% of firms. Second place was effectively a three-way tie between two of the leading legal AI products, Thomson Reuters CoCounsel 44% and Harvey 43% , and one non-legal general AI product, Anthropic’s Claude 44% . Legora came in much lower in the results, at 16%, behind products such as Lexis+AI 26% , ChatGPT Enterprise 22% , iManage 22% and Litera One 17% . Breaking that down by firm size shows interesting patterns. Among firms of fewer than 50 lawyers, Copilot retains its top position 59% , followed again by Claude 42% and CoCounsel 40% , but Harvey drops to 22% and Legora to 6%. At the other end of the size spectrum, among firms of 700 or more lawyers, the gap narrows between Copilot and Harvey, with Copilot seeing usage among 88% of firms and Harvey among 84%. But even among those large firms, Claude still gets 64% of usage, ahead of Legora 47% and CoCounsel 43% . Deployment vs. Piloting It is one thing for a firm to say it is using one or more of these AI products, but it is another thing entirely to consider where these firms are in their AI deployment. Here again, the survey offers some revealing data. Only two AI products in the survey have been fully deployed by at least half of respondent firms’ lawyers: Microsoft Copilot, with 52% of firms reporting full deployment among lawyers, and Westlaw Advantage, with 50% of firms reporting full deployment. However, here is where the survey results get a bit confusing, as the Copilot that leads in deployment is not Microsoft 365 Copilot, which is a paid product, but, as the survey puts it, “Microsoft Copilot formerly Bing Chat ,” which would appear to be the free version included in Windows. But the survey also provides results for “Microsoft Copilot for Windows.” Microsoft’s own website lists three versions with different names https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/microsoft-365-copilot-overview?tabs=microsoft-copilot-chat-basic%2Cmicrosoft-copilot-chat-basic-training than those used in the survey: Copilot Chat, Microsoft 365 Copilot Basic and Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium . Setting aside that discrepancy, the more interesting findings may be those relating to which products firms are currently testing or piloting. There, the two top products are both from iManage, and only nine products were listed by more than half of firms: - iManage AI Enrichment 91% . - Ask iManage iManage AI Assistant 80% . - Claude 68% . - Litera One / Lito 64% . - NetDocuments’ ndMAX App Builder PatternBuilder MAX 58% . - Clio’s Vincent AI 56% . - ChatGPT 55% . - Legora 51% . - Laurel 51% . Also of interest is how firms are using AI. Perhaps not surprisingly, the top uses, all within the 73-79% range, are the ones you would expect: creating initial drafts of documents, meeting notes and summaries, legal research, and summarizing or analyzing long or complex documents or files. Even as firms are using and testing AI, they also remain concerned about it, particularly from a security standpoint. When asked, “What are your firm’s three biggest security challenges?” gen AI made the list for the first time — and it arrived in second place. As an executive summary put it: “This year, GenAI appeared on the survey’s tracked ‘security challenge’ list for the first time – and immediately claimed second place, outranking malware, compliance, and every legacy threat except user behavior.” Firms’ only greater security challenge, according to the survey, is user behavior — the perennial Achilles’ heel of any IT security system. The findings about AI are just one segment of the full ILTA survey, which, at 489 pages, spans strategy, emerging technologies, practice management, business applications, document processing, collaboration and communication, infrastructure, computer hardware and operating systems, and security. The breakdown by size of firms that participated in the study is: | Number of Lawyers | of Firms | % of Resp | | Under 50 | 137 | 27% | | 50 to 149 | 169 | 33% | | 150 to 349 | 90 | 18% | | 350 to 699 | 53 | 10% | | 700 and Over | 59 | 12% | at ILTA’s website https://www.iltanet.org/resources/publications/surveys/ts26 .