Manupatra Releases India’s First Survey Mapping AI Adoption in the Legal Sector

New Delhi [India], June 2: At Manupatra, we have consistently driven innovation in the Indian legal ecosystem. Our close collaboration with legal practitioners and law students gives us valuable, real-time insight into how technology is shaping legal processes and decision-making across the country.

Over the past few years, artificial intelligence has increasingly integrated into everyday life, transforming how professionals operate. In the legal sector, AI-based tools have brought significant benefits—simplifying research, improving drafting efficiency, and aiding in contract and case management. However, some unintended consequences have also surfaced, including instances of fabricated cases being cited due to AI-generated errors.

To understand AI’s actual role in legal workflows, Manupatra conducted a pioneering, nationwide survey to assess the state and scope of AI use in India’s legal industry. The survey gathered diverse responses from professionals and students, identifying key challenges and outlining what’s needed to ensure AI is applied ethically, safely, and effectively. These insights are aimed at guiding legal professionals, regulators, and institutions toward responsible AI integration.

The full “Adoption of AI in the Indian Legal Landscape” report, based on data from 227 participants—including students, advocates, corporate lawyers, law firm partners, academics, and judges—is now being released.

Key Findings:

Young, Digital-First Respondents: 60% of those surveyed were between 18 and 34 years old. Law students made up 36.6% and practicing advocates 23.8%, showing strong early-stage engagement with AI in legal learning and practice.
Growing Use of AI Tools: Nearly 60% had used AI in the past year, especially for legal research (77.9%), document summarization (65.7%), and help with drafting (54.7%).
Productivity Meets Skepticism: While 79.7% experienced time savings on repetitive tasks, only 4.1% said they completely trust AI-generated outputs without further checks. Another 48.8% prefer to manually verify results.
Key Challenges Noted: 58.1% identified output reliability issues, 51.2% pointed to hallucinated content, and 42.4% raised concerns over the lack of Indian legal context in current AI tools.
Policy Gaps Evident: Even though 77.1% favor disclosure of AI usage in legal filings or advice, just 11% confirmed that their organizations have formal AI use policies.

Main Pain Points:

Unreliable Results (58.14%): Over half flagged erratic accuracy and AI-generated fiction as serious concerns.
Security & Privacy (47.67%): Many users expressed concern over safeguarding sensitive legal information.
Insufficient Indian Context (42.44%): AI models often lack the ability to correctly interpret India-specific laws and precedents.
Accountability & Ethics (38.37%): Respondents raised questions around legal liability, bias, and appropriate use in client matters.
Training & Awareness Gaps (40.12% & 34.30%): Many reported limited training opportunities and low awareness of available AI tools as adoption hurdles.

Adoption Outlook & Future Expectations:

When AI Goes Mainstream: 35.68% expect AI to become a standard part of legal work within the next 1–2 years, with only 3.96% predicting a delay beyond five years.
Guarded Optimism: While 46.25% expressed a “mostly positive” view of AI’s role and 18.06% called it “transformational,” 45.37% maintained a balanced perspective, acknowledging both pros and cons.
Bridging the Gap: Respondents emphasized the importance of accredited training programs (67.40%), trial access to tools (66.52%), and regulatory guidance from bar councils or courts (47.58%) to accelerate and support adoption.
Human Oversight Remains Crucial: The consensus was that AI will serve as a co-pilot—enhancing research and drafting—while final decisions will still require human expertise.

About Manupatra:

Manupatra is India’s foremost provider of legal, regulatory, and business intelligence services. Since introducing online legal research in India in 2000, Manupatra has built the country’s largest and most trusted legal information platform. Using cutting-edge AI and machine learning, the platform supports lawyers, law firms, the judiciary, corporates, and law students in accessing and analyzing legal material more efficiently. Manupatra continues to set the benchmark at the intersection of law and technology.