BigLaw's reported shift toward AI-assisted legal research

In October 2026, a poster described BigLaw moving over the previous year from dismissing AI as hallucinating chatbots to partners expecting associates to finish legal research faster by using it. They want agents to prepare diligence reports and regulatory approval lists, start document revisions after client comments, and draft alerts about regulatory developments. They say these uses are possible with today's AI, but conservative law firms take time to adopt them.