Extract from Ellen Bardash’s article, “Law Firms Are Using AI as Strategy Tool, Not for Reliable Forecasts of Litigation Outcomes.”
Attorneys are using the predictive functions of AI to corroborate or identify potential holes in their thinking about litigation strategy.
The majority of law firm leaders with an eye on AI tools view them as at least somewhat reliable in predicting how cases might turn out, but they’re generally not treating large language models as a crystal ball that can calculate the likelihood of winning or losing a case outright.
Instead, attorneys are more often using the predictive functions of AI to corroborate or identify potential holes in their thinking about litigation strategy.
As part of a recent report from Law.com Compass’ Pacesetter Research, AI and innovation leaders from 300 U.S.-based law firms were surveyed in the first quarter of 2026. When asked whether they felt AI could accurately predict the results of legal cases, 62% of those surveys said yes, but with some limitations. Another 17% said AI tools are not accurate enough to make those types of predictions accurately, and the remaining 21% said they were unsure.
