Published at the IBA’s 2026 Annual Conference, ‘Human in the Loop’ shows how the adoption of AI in legal services is increasing the importance of face-to-face relationship building with clients and peers to strengthen lawyers’ coveted status as ‘trusted advisers’.
London and Copenhagen, 5 October 2026 – A new report published at the International Bar Association’s 2026 Annual Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, highlights the increasing importance of lawyers cultivating and applying skills in face-to-face relationship building, as the adoption of artificial intelligence in the legal industry places a growing premium on trust, commercial understanding, and human judgement. Despite speculation that AI will replace significant work done by junior lawyers, most traditional law firms around the world (57%) are planning to grow headcount in the next 18 months.
These are among the conclusions of Human in the Loop: The lawyer as trusted adviser in the age of AI, the latest international white paper from MD Communications. The findings are based on a survey conducted in early autumn 2026 of 50 legal services businesses across the UK, EU, East Asia, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa, supplemented by in-depth interviews with senior lawyers, law firm leaders and legal sector professionals.
Among the paper’s findings are:
- 91% of independent firms report that many international clients become repeat clients, based on a European survey sample.
- A ‘lack of confidence’ is the leading barrier for the next generation of lawyers in developing business development and relationship-building skills (66%).
- 57% expect their firm’s total headcount to increase over the next 18 months (only 7% said decrease).
- 32% say that AI is changing both how trust is built with clients and how fast tasks are completed.
- 61% of law firms plan to increase their BD spend in the next five years.
Melissa Davis, founder and CEO of MD Communications, said: “The business-critical areas in the law don’t change for lawyers: they want to be trusted advisers; they want to have meaningful business relationships and inspire client loyalty… The challenge they grapple with is how to preserve these elements in a constantly changing context. The advent of AI has delighted and disconcerted legal services in equal measure.”
Matt Meyer, Managing Partner of Kingsley Napley, who wrote the paper’s afterword, said: “One of the most interesting findings from the international survey is that the majority of those surveyed expect to increase their headcount. That is a ‘good news’ story, and a sign of legal sector confidence. It runs counter to the narrative that AI and growth in people businesses are somehow in conflict, and counter to the idea that a business cannot be grown in uncertain times.”
Anna Dąbrowska, partner at leading CEE/SEE law firm Wolf Theiss, who wrote the paper’s foreword, said: “AI should make our lives easier, not more difficult, but we do need to invest time and effort to understand how we can use it to provide the best possible service to our clients.”
Nick Brocklesby, London-based partner at US law firm Alston & Bird, said: “There is currently no AI metric that can opine on the human element of litigation.”
A full copy of the report can be downloaded here.
