Will AI Replace Lawyers?

More exposed than most occupations, ranked 286 of 785. Employment is projected to grow +4.7% by 2035, from 864,000 jobs today.

a group of people sitting around a table
Photo by @silverkblack on Unsplash

Where this job sits against every other

Least exposed785 occupationsMost exposed
#286 of 785 occupations, ordered by AI exposure

Each column is a slice of the 785 occupations Microsoft measured for how much of their work today's AI can do. Lawyers sit in the blue column.

What the job is made of

The biggest single piece of this job is “Present information in legal proceedings”, at 20.3% of the work. The column on the right is a different measure entirely: out of every time someone asked AI to do that activity, how often it actually got it right. It counts attempts people made, so a high number does not mean the work has moved to AI. It means AI is capable of that task when asked.

Share of the jobAI success rate
Present information in legal proceedings
20.3%
100% of attempts
Research laws, precedents, or other legal data
19.3%
92% of attempts
Advise others on legal or regulatory matters
13.8%
93% of attempts
Consult legal materials or public records
11.9%
81% of attempts
Interview people to obtain information
8.8%
38% of attempts
Prepare legal or regulatory documents
7.3%
94% of attempts

12 activities make up this occupation in the government's classification. The six here are the ones that define it most.

AI is weakest at “Interview people to obtain information”, which is 8.8% of this job. Asked to do it, it finishes correctly 38% of the time. The work it handles well sits above 90%.

The numbers behind it

864,000people doing this work
+4.7%projected change by 2035
$159,670median pay, US

Employment and pay are United States figures, the only country publishing this per occupation. The work activities and the AI measurements are not country specific.

There are about 29,000 openings a year here, counting people who retire or move on as well as new positions.

This page is about the occupation. Your job is more specific than that.

The calculator reads your actual role and the tasks you do. It takes about a minute.

Analyze my job

Other jobs people ask about

Sources