How is AI changing the relationship between clients and law firms?

Thomson Reuters' report 2026 AI in Professional Services highlights a clear information gap between clients and their external legal advisers. 67 per cent of in-house lawyers in the survey state that they do not know whether AI has been used in the work delivered by their law firms, whilst 54 per cent believe that their external advisers should use AI. Furthermore, 73 per cent of in-house lawyers believe that it is the adviser who should take the initiative in discussing AI.

According to Axel Hedberg, CIO at Lindahl, the legal sector has generally been at the forefront of exploring and adopting AI. But developments are also progressing rapidly among clients.

"Client companies have caught up and, in some areas, have even overtaken the law firms. This creates an expectation that we will discuss how such a powerful tool affects the services we provide. Firms that dare to take the lead, are open about how they work and invite clients to be part of the development process will build stronger relationships than those that wait for the client to ask. Those who wait will, by definition, end up in the back seat," he says.

New types of legal work become possible

AI can do more than just streamline existing work processes. The technology can also lower the threshold for legal work that was previously difficult to carry out, either because it required significant internal resources from the client or because the cost of external advice was hard to justify.

Olle Swärd Brattström, an associate at Lindahl, has already seen this in several client projects. This primarily concerns assignments involving large volumes of material.

One example is compliance checks on internal governance documentation, such as policies, instructions, rules of procedure and delegations of authority. In larger organisations and groups, responsibility for keeping documentation up to date is often spread across different levels and functions. This can lead to the documentation developing in different directions and the organisation lacking an overall picture of how well it complies with applicable regulations.

With the help of AI and other digital tools, large volumes of documents can be managed more efficiently, paving the way for ongoing review and more consistent governance documentation.

Another example is the analysis of large portfolios of contracts. By mapping out which terms and conditions appear in the organisation's contracts, and how common they are, it is possible to create an overview that was previously very resource-intensive to produce.

"Legal statistics can help to identify both potential for improvement and major risks. For example, an unfavourable clause accepted as a limited concession in an individual negotiation may be carried over when the contract is later used as a template. Ultimately, the same clause may appear in a large proportion of the contract portfolio and entail a significant cumulative legal risk," explains Olle Swärd Brattström.

From reactive to more proactive advice

The benefit, therefore, lies not solely in the time saved. When larger volumes of legal material can be processed in a different way, the nature of the advice itself can also change.

"It is not just about doing things faster, but also about taking a more holistic and strategic approach to the organisation's legal framework and what can or should be done to strengthen it further," says Olle Swärd Brattström.

When legal matters can be handled on an ongoing and proactive basis, rather than on an ad hoc basis once a specific problem has already arisen, the client can gain a better overview of, for example, risks and regulatory compliance, as well as a stronger basis for negotiations, decisions and other strategic considerations.

It also affects the relationship between client and adviser. In the projects Olle has worked on, Lindahl has, above all, taken the initiative to investigate how AI can be used for tasks that the firm had not previously handled in the same way. The approach has since evolved over the course of the project.

"Rather than merely carrying out specific assignments, we can, to a greater extent, work with the client to explore what we can do together to strengthen the organisation's legal position. For the client, this can mean that the legal aspects of their business become better organised, less cumbersome and, overall, legally more secure," he says.

When time is reduced – what then is the value?

At the same time, this development raises a broader question for the legal profession: what happens to the value of legal advice when certain tasks are carried out more quickly?

The Thomson Reuters report confirms that AI poses a challenge to traditional hourly-based business models, as work that previously took hours can, in some cases, be completed in minutes. The report also highlights the need to shift the discussion away from mere efficiency gains towards the value that AI and the legal adviser together actually create for the client.

Axel Hedberg sees this as one of the most significant shifts the industry is facing.

"We are moving towards a new normal, but the business model hasn't quite caught up yet. Technology is making the work faster, whilst pricing is in many cases still based on how long it used to take. If this transition isn't made, every efficiency gain risks becoming a loss-making venture for the legal adviser rather than a value shared with the client."

He believes that this development could lead to more pricing models tailored to the type of assignment, rather than a single model being used for all legal work.

At the same time, the experiences from Olle Swärd Brattström's client projects show how this issue can already arise in practice. When new methods and tools are being tested, the firm may initially need to spend more time than the finalised working method will later require.

"The fact that it takes us longer to find the right method or develop the tools should not be borne by the client. From our perspective, this should be seen as an investment in skills development and a strengthened client relationship. Following the project, we have also developed methods that enable us to assist the client in ways that were not previously possible, at least not with the same efficiency and cost structure," says Olle.

What will be the focus of the advice?

For Axel Hedberg, it is, amongst other things, about making better use of the knowledge built up within the organisation – experiences, negotiation outcomes and client-specific lessons learnt – and translating this into structured working methods.

"Going forward, value will rest on two things that must go hand in hand: high-quality strategic legal advice – that is, the assessment, the relationship and the sense of risk – and the ability to actually utilise technology in the delivery of that advice. In addition to the legal aspects themselves, business acumen and project management are also becoming increasingly important in what the client perceives as value," says Axel.

The same trend may influence how legal work is organised across national borders. Olle Swärd Brattström sees examples of how Swedish law firms' use of AI could enable them to take on greater responsibility in international projects. For instance, a Swedish adviser could draft the basis for legal documentation, which is then quality-assured and supplemented by local advisers in line with the requirements of the respective country.

This is yet another example of how technology can influence not only the speed at which legal work is carried out, but also how the work is allocated and organised.

A more ongoing dialogue on law, technology and value

Looking ahead, both Axel Hedberg and Olle Swärd Brattström believe that the relationship between client and law firm will be characterised by a more ongoing dialogue on how the work should best be divided: what the client does themselves, what is delegated to the adviser, what technology can handle, and where specialist expertise is crucial.

For law firms, this means that AI is not merely an internal matter of tools and efficiency. It also becomes a question of how legal advice is developed in collaboration with clients.

"Fundamentally, the industry is moving towards a relationship where technology, transparency and a clearer dialogue on value become just as important as legal expertise – not as a replacement for it, but as a complement," concludes Axel Hedberg.