4 Ways Legal Teams are using AI in 2026

In 2026, legal teams have moved beyond hesitation about AI and are now actively adopting and deploying these tools. The 2026 CLOC State of the Industry Report opens in a new tab shows that 80% of teams are prioritizing technology strategy and that 85% have dedicated AI resources focused on deployment, governance, and risk management.

Today, AI enables faster execution while allowing legal teams to reallocate resources to higher-impact work—often without adding headcount. 

Here are four practical ways AI can act as a strategic lever and differentiator across the contract lifecycle.

Intake: efficiently manage incoming contract requests

AI can deliver significant value right at the start of the agreement cycle, when legal teams are inundated with requests via Slack, email, and other channels. Instead of relying on scattered intake forums and manual processes, AI can help centralize, prioritize and standardize incoming requests using approved playbooks.

AI-powered tools can help perform intelligent contract analysis and automate routine workflows, reducing manual effort and accelerating review cycles while improving consistency. 

Here’s how AI and automation can help streamline the intake process:

• Handle the constant flow of contract inquiries without disrupting existing workflows

• Automatically route requests to the right stakeholders for faster approvals 

• Reduce time-consuming manual tasks, like version tracking, data re-entry, and signature chasing

Docusign’s own legal team uses Iris to helpcentralize and manage incoming work requests. For example, Iris can assist with drafting agreements from approved templates, routing them for signature, and tracking signing status—reducing manual steps in the process.

The legal team at Perceptyx, a leading employee experience technology company, significantly improved efficiency by consolidating six vendors into the IAM platform. According to Perceptyx, AI-powered workflows reduced document generation time by up to 99%, giving sales teams greater autonomy and allowing legal to focus on higher-value work.

Negotiations: fast-track review, risk analysis, and routing 

Negotiating and redlining third-party contracts requires repetitive contract review, legal research, and risk assessment—tasks that can consume significant time for busy legal teams.

AI can act as a powerful collaborator, handling time-consuming reviews and providing a unified workspace that allows experienced lawyers to focus on high-judgment decisions. According to 2026 research from Deloitte and Docusign, AI and automation deliver an average of 37% time savings for legal teams, particularly in review and risk evaluation. Respondents also ranked routing, editing, and approval workflows (65%) and review and risk evaluation (59%) as the top two AI capabilities for return on investment.

Here’s how legal teams can accelerate the negotiation and review process with automated workflows and AI: 

• Accelerate reviews with AI-powered risk scoring and redline suggestions

• Maintain a clear audit trail with preserved reviewer edits and comments

• Reduce delays with automated reminders, status updates, and routing to counterparties

For example, the legal team at Docusign uses Iris to support document review by submitting document-focused requests for editing or playbook execution. Global manufacturer Flowserve has reported that AI-Assisted Review has dramatically shortened the time needed to review third-party language.

Insights and analysis: centralize signed agreements and retrieve clause details 

Even after signature, executed agreements provide valuable insights for future legal work. But without a centralized, searchable repository, locating and extracting information from contracts scattered across emails, shared drives, and local storage can be slow and inefficient. AI-powered repositories can turn fragmented storage into a single source of truth, enabling legal teams to quickly find relevant details, respond to internal questions, and identify opportunities to unlock hidden revenue or surface risk patterns.

Here’s how AI can accelerate search and analysis of agreements:

• Eliminating manual searches through shared folders or disparate tools 

• Retrieving specific clauses or entire agreements using natural language queries

• Giving stakeholders self-service access to counterparty information, recent data processing agreements, and other key data

For example, Docusign’s legal team uses Iris to locate agreements in seconds. What was once a lengthy process is now a seamless sequence of document search, review, and exploration.

Similarly, San Miguel County implemented Docusign IAM to create a centralized repository for agreements dating back to 2015, first for the county attorney’s office and later for 10 additional departments. The county has reported that document retrieval time dropped to just two or three seconds, helping them respond to information requests within three days.

Ongoing management: simplify compliance across vendor, customer, and partner contracts

For legal teams that rely on decentralized platforms and manual processes, staying on top of compliance across the contract portfolio can be extremely challenging. Tacking active obligations buried across a large number of agreements increases the risk of missed deadlines, disputes, penalties, and outdated terms in future negotiations.

Here’s how AI-powered contract platforms, such as Docusign IAM, can help legal teams monitor and manage compliance across the contract portfolio:

• Monitoring key milestones, such as payments, renewals, and expirations

• Generating reports and visualizations to support proactive renegotiation decisions

• Comparing new third-party terms against approved company playbooks

According to the same 2026 Deloitte and Docusign research, 13% of legal teams are already using agentic AI agents in the contract process and 72% of respondents reported improvements in accuracy, including fewer clerical errors, more consistent clause usage, and stronger regulatory compliance. 

How AI can transform key friction points in the contract lifecycle

Support legal’s transition into the AI-powered era of contract work

2026 is bringing a wave of change in legal operations, with AI offering new ways to manage increasing complexity. Successful AI adoption goes beyond technology—it requires an adaptive mindset that effectively combines AI execution with expert human judgment.

When AI is thoughtfully embedded into workflows, it can help standardize, automate, and optimize repetitive tasks, allowing legal teams to focus on higher-value, strategic work.

Learn more about how Docusign helps legal teams address today’s agreement management challenges.

Frequently asked questions

How does AI help legal teams maintain daily contract momentum?

AI-powered contract systems can support legal teams by streamlining intake, drafting, routing, and follow-ups. This automation helps minimize delays and keeps contract processes moving efficiently.

Can AI assist with risk analysis during contract reviews?

Yes. AI can deliver fast risk scoring, playbook comparisons, and redline suggestions. This allows experienced legal professionals to focus their time on high-judgment decisions rather than repetitive review work.

How does AI support compliance after contracts are signed?

AI can help monitor obligations across large contract repositories, track renewals and key milestones, and flag potential clause deviations. This capability can reduce compliance risk in vendor, customer, and partner agreements.