78.4% of Spanish lawyers already use artificial intelligence, according to a Grupo Tirant study

Almost eight out of ten lawyers in Spain already use artificial intelligence in their professional activity. That is the main conclusion of the Tirant Prime positioning study in the professional legal market 2026, promoted by Grupo Tirant, carried out by Coto Consulting and with the collaboration of the Universitat de València in the methodological review, on a sample of 760 practising lawyers in Spain.

According to the data released on 20 October, 78.4% of respondents use some type of AI in their legal work. General-purpose tools are the most widespread (67.9%), ahead of AI integrated into legal platforms (26.3%) and independent legal AI (13.7%), in a question that allowed multiple answers.

More use does not mean better ratings

The study draws a relevant paradox for the sector: general-purpose tools concentrate most of the usage, but the legal AIs analysed tend to obtain better ratings on the attributes most linked to professional practice: technical rigour, sources, updating and privacy.

In that context, SOFIA, Tirant's AI integrated into Tirant Prime, obtains its best scores among those who use it as their main tool in privacy (8.28 out of 10), updating (8.05) and quality and technical rigour (8.03). It is worth remembering that this is a study promoted by the company itself, something the reader should bear in mind when assessing these specific ratings, although the methodology had university review.

The generational gap: from 9.5% to 36%

Age is the variable that marks the biggest differences. Among lawyers under 35 only 9.5% say they do not use any AI, a percentage that rises to 36% among professionals aged 55 or over.

The type of tool also changes: AIs integrated into legal platforms have greater relative weight among those over 54 (32.8%) than among those under 35 (20.9%).

AI transforms consultation, it does not replace platforms

Regarding the relationship with legal databases, 43.3% of AI users have not reduced their consultations to these platforms; 29.7% say they have reduced them somewhat and 16.9%, significantly. Only 10.1% say AI sometimes completely replaces consultation of their legal platform.

The data point to a scenario in which AI is transforming consultation habits rather than replacing specialised tools, while the platforms themselves incorporate AI into their environments. In platform choice, Tirant Prime users point to ease of use (37.2%) and price (33.9%) as the main reasons; when they must choose just one, price tops the list (21.6%).

How platforms and brands are rated

The study also measures the perception of legal platforms. In Tirant Prime's case, the breadth and updating of its database of case law, legislation and doctrine obtains a rating of 8.01 out of 10. And among those who know the Tirant brand, the best-rated attributes are prestige (8.08), quality (7.91) and trust (7.87).

For the firm assessing whether to adopt these tools, the study's practical lesson is twofold: adoption is already the majority and will cease to be a differentiating factor, but the choice of tool will be one, because the criteria that weigh on professional rating (rigour, sources, updating and privacy) do not match those explaining the mass use of general-purpose tools.

The focus shifts to rigour and sources

For Grupo Tirant, the results come at a time of transformation of the legaltech market towards more integrated working environments, and highlight one of the main challenges of the next adoption phase: advancing technological capability without losing sight of the knowledge on which answers are built. Rigour, reliability, updating and source traceability become the competitive ground.

It is the same debate covered by our analysis of the legal AI reliability ranking in Spain and that the profession has tried to organise with initiatives such as the Spanish Bar's AI Decalogue. We follow the evolution of AI use in the sector in our Legal AI section.