Rising profits but ‘wellbeing crisis’ among lawyers
A report from a legal-technology company has found that Irish lawyers spend nearly three hours a day on non-billable tasks.
This is the equivalent of 88 full working days, or nearly 17.5 weeks a year, according to research from LEAP Legal Software.
Profitability in Law: Global Report 2026 is based on a survey of 700 legal professionals across six countries – including Britain and Ireland.
Pricing pressure
Despite what LEAP describes as “the drag” of non-billable work, 69% of lawyers in Ireland and Britain reported increased profitability over the past 12 months.
The report finds, however, that 93% of lawyers said that their firm had the potential to be more profitable, while 70% rated profit improvement as a top or high priority.
Pricing pressure emerged as the single biggest obstacle to profitability, cited by 51% of respondents, while 41% pointed to the need to reduce expenses.
When asked what was preventing their firm from operating more efficiently, 43% blamed too many different systems, 41% pointed to limited AI tools for document review or research, and 40% cited excessive manual administrative work.
Just over a quarter (28%) said that staff were under-utilised.
Burnout a problem
LEAP says that its report also found a “wellbeing crisis”, with 85% of lawyers in Ireland and Britain saying that burnout was a problem at their firm, while 84% identified staff turnover as a concern.
A further 38% said their firm lacked sufficient staff capacity and 13% that reported they did not have enough support staff.
On AI, 79% of lawyers said their firm was already saving moderate or significant amounts of time through the technology, while 33% said they were using it for document review and 26% for drafting and document generation.
According to the report, 88% of lawyers said that they trusted legal-technology providers to integrate AI tools responsibly and safely.
‘Uneven’ adoption of technology
LEAP says, however, that technology adoption remains “uneven,” with only 16% of respondents saying that their firm had invested in reducing administrative burden, and just 35% had prioritised better technology and tools.
40% of lawyers said that a lack of AI tools to identify opportunities or automate client outreach was a barrier to growth. Speed and the ability to verify responses were rated equally important by lawyers when evaluating AI tools, each cited by 40% of respondents.
LEAP Ireland chief executive Shane Branagan said that keeping non-billable hours down to a minimum was a priority for every lawyer.
“What is encouraging is that the advent of AI is changing this reality and fast, already delivering real-time savings for the firms that have adopted the right tools.
“The challenge now is closing the gap between those firms and the ones yet to act – spreading the benefits and clawing back precious time,” he stated.