2025 Legal Trends
Legal industry predictions for the year ahead
Prepare for the biggest challenges facing lawyers with data-driven expert perspectives and actionable insights from the Bloomberg Law 2025 series.
The state of the legal services industry
News about the law and how it’s practiced has been dominating public discussion more now than perhaps at any other time in recent memory. From landmark Supreme Court decisions to unprecedented political shifts, and from thorny constitutional challenges to massive technological advances, legal professionals are left wondering about how these developments may shape the future of their legal practice.
In our latest annual look-ahead report, Bloomberg Law’s expert analysts have identified key industry developments to highlight market trends that lawyers should be watching closely in the year ahead.
Legal trends 2025
This year’s report examines the biggest challenges and questions in some of the fastest-growing areas of law, and the legal fields that will be most in demand in 2025.
In an evolving regulatory landscape, understanding these key industry trends can help legal professionals anticipate challenges and capitalize on growth areas in 2025 and beyond.
1. Litigation
Explore major changes to case law in 2024 and what they might mean for 2025, including:
- Why the death of Chevron deference won’t mean the death of corporate liability
- How challenges to corporate DEI programs may fare in 2025
- How Meta releasing an open source LLM might tip the scales in fair use lawsuits
2. Transactions and contracts
Discover the forces shaping key markets of interest in commercial and corporate transactions:
- Does the recent popularity of going-private transactions represent a new dealmaking trend?
- Why supply chains will face new risks at home and abroad, and how businesses will respond
- How SEC actions against large banks and OpenAI will change how NDAs are drafted
3. Artificial intelligence (AI)
The dramatic rise of generative AI technology will continue to change the legal profession in 2025 and has sparked compelling legal questions, including:
- Will AI oversight efforts follow the model of EU-inspired state privacy laws or the framework of voluntary nationwide cybersecurity standards?
- Will basic contract-drafting skills matter for early-career transactional attorneys when AI takes over?
4. Regulatory and compliance
Dive into what legal compliance might look like in important areas of corporate risk, such as:
- Why corporate climate goals will be subjected to new investor scrutiny
- Why last year’s unprecedented flurry of state privacy laws is only the beginning
5. Practice of law
Understand the issues law firms and in-house legal departments will contend with and what they mean for the future of legal careers, including:
- How law firms are deflecting anti-DEI lawsuits without changing their programs – and how corporations can do the same
- Where high-tech project management software is gaining traction in an industry where email still rules
- The right ratio of in-office and remote work for peak billable-hour efficiency
- What survey responses reveal about the future of well-being programs for lawyers
These insights are only the beginning. Download our full report for a comprehensive analysis of 2025 legal industry trends and stay ahead of the evolving legal landscape.
What will the legal industry look like in 2025?
The legal industry is bracing for a dynamic year of transformation in 2025, driven by shifts in regulatory standards, the rapid integration of AI, and legal practitioners’ evolving expectations of where, when, and how they work.
57
%
of lawyers expect associates to have AI experience. Most attorneys expect new legal professionals to have at least a basic familiarity with AI upon hiring.
82
%
billable-hour efficiency rate for hybrid work policies suggests that attorney efficiency peaks when return-to-office arrangements allow for remote work one to two days per week.
Growth sectors for the legal industry
The legal industry is set for growth in 2025, with a heightened demand for legal expertise across specialized fields – especially regulatory compliance, privacy, and litigation. In the face of the growing complexity of global commercial activity alongside technological advancements, the demand for legal services is likely to rise in sectors affected by evolving compliance needs, including:
- Commercial transactions
- Supply chain risk management
- Mergers and acquisitions (M&A)
- Drug pricing litigation
- SEC rulemaking
How technology is changing the legal field
The integration of AI into larger industry and commercial sectors is raising complicated legal and compliance questions. Like with the recent development of privacy and cybersecurity laws, stakeholders are debating whether AI compliance standards should follow state-driven laws or a voluntary national framework. In 2025, regulators will likely begin to address how industries use the new technology, including with oversight strategies such as the SEC’s regulation of “AI washing” in financial disclosures.
2025 is also likely to see a widespread adoption of state AI regulations narrowly targeted to curb election-related misinformation, deepfakes, and sexually explicit content. Legal professionals should expect First Amendment challenges to arise.
AI’s environmental impact is also gaining attention. In response to the new scrutiny, tech companies will be reevaluating their “green” claims in 2025.
The future of AI in legal services
Legal technology, particularly AI, is fundamentally reshaping legal practices. Even though the adoption of such tools has been gradual and cautious due to privacy and cybersecurity questions, in-house legal departments are leading the industry in implementing legal tech tools to transform how they work. For example, project management tools are more common in corporate settings than in law firms.
AI tools are increasingly being used to drive efficiencies in areas such as contract drafting, legal research, and due diligence. With AI taking over more repetitive tasks, lawyers will be able to focus on complex, strategic work, but law firms and in-house legal teams will need to develop strong oversight processes to mitigate legal and ethical risks.
To effectively leverage these tools and audit their outputs, legal professionals will still need to have a foundational understanding of contract law and legal writing skills. However, 74% of attorneys believe transactional lawyers with fewer than five years of experience lack proficiency in drafting concise, legally sound contracts. Law schools are responding by expanding AI course offerings to prepare future lawyers for AI-integrated practice.
Most attorneys expect associates to have AI knowledge
“What level of practical experience with AI would you expect new associates or new legal professionals at your firm or organization to have upon hiring?”
Law firm trends and challenges in 2025
Law firms will grapple with several challenges in 2025, including finding ways to optimize operational efficiency while balancing employee well-being:
- Adapting to hybrid work models: Firms may struggle to balance work-from-home policies that optimize billable hours with traditional office culture.
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program sustainability: While firms remain committed to these programs, they’ll need to adapt to persisting anti-DEI legal pressures.
- Technology implementation: The transition to project management tools and knowledge management systems remains slow, despite a recognized need among in-house teams.
- Lawyer well-being: As mental health and well-being become focal issues, firms will expand wellness programs and dedicate staff to address these concerns.
In-house counsel trends and challenges in 2025
In-house counsel will play a crucial risk management role for their organizations, especially regarding evolving regulatory compliance challenges:
- Supply chain resilience: Expanding and diversifying their network of suppliers while also renegotiating supply contracts for more flexibility are key tactics that corporate counsels are taking to mitigate disruption in response to global trade and regulatory risks.
- Technology adoption: Implementing project management tools and compliance monitoring systems to improve efficiency and responsiveness.
- Flexible contract arrangements: Ensuring adaptability in supplier and vendor contracts to respond swiftly to changing business environments.
- Enhanced compliance oversight: Managing compliance in emerging areas, such as climate reporting and AI regulation, to align with corporate governance goals.
Download the full legal trends report
Access your copy of the Bloomberg Law 2025 series for an in-depth look at the issues our legal analysts are tracking into 2025. This comprehensive report covers five key areas:
- Litigation
- Transactions and contracts
- Artificial intelligence
- Regulatory and compliance
- The practice of law
Already a Bloomberg Law subscriber? Login to access the analyses.
Meet the authors
The Bloomberg Law 2025 series features more than two dozen articles written by Bloomberg Law legal analysts who have dived deep into key developments and data to look ahead to what 2025 has in store for legal professionals and the legal industry.
Golriz Chrostowski
Principal Legal Analyst
Robert Dillard
Principal Legal Analyst
Abigail Gampher Takacs
Legal Analyst
Michael Maugans
Senior Legal Analyst
Mary Ashley Salvino
Senior Content Specialist
Laura Travis
Content Specialist
Louann Troutman
Senior Legal Analyst
Erin L. Webb
Principal Legal Analyst