GC AI Study Finds In-House Legal Teams Reclaim 14 Hours Per Week Using Legal AI

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SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 12, 2026--

GC AI today released results from a new return-on-investment (ROI) study showing that in-house legal teams using GC AI reclaim an average of 14 hours per week - more than one-third of the workweek - while improving the speed, quality, and cost of everyday work.

Based on a survey of more than 100 active GC AI customers conducted in December 2025, the study quantified time savings, outside counsel impact, and output quality for common in-house legal workflows compared to generalist AI tools.

Key findings include:

• 14 hours per week returned per user, on average
• 5+ hours per day reclaimed by power users (90th percentile and above)
• 14% reduction in outside counsel spend
• 21% greater accuracy compared to generalist AI tools

These results were reported consistently across roles, including general counsel, associate general counsel, in-house counsel, and legal operations professionals.

“Other companies talk about ROI. We have the data,” said Cecilia Ziniti, co-founder and CEO of GC AI. “The takeaway is simple: legal AI is meaningfully changing in-house work - replacing hours of manual effort and outside counsel dependence with faster, higher-quality in-house execution.”

According to the ACC Law Department Management Benchmarking Report, the median company spends $1.8 million annually on outside counsel. A 14% reduction equates to approximately $252,000 in annual savings - exceeding the cost of AI software.

“I don’t need to call a copyright lawyer for this question anymore. I have a copyright lawyer on my phone or on my desktop,” said Wendra Liang, Legal Counsel at Vercel.

“We couldn’t do our job without GC AI. The use cases are so broad - from comms to contracts to strategy - it pays for itself in weeks,” said Cameron Clark, Head of Legal at Arc’teryx.

Beyond time and cost savings, GC AI customers reported using reclaimed time for strategic advising, proactive risk planning, and deeper cross-functional collaboration, while also achieving more sustainable workloads.

The findings come amid a rapid shift in adoption among in-house lawyers. Ongoing survey data collected by GC AI shows that in June 2024, a majority of lawyers (56%) reported never using AI in their work, while by December 2025, a majority (55%) reported using AI daily or hourly. As usage has matured, legal AI has moved decisively into production - becoming embedded in the daily workflows on in-house legal teams and reshaping how legal work gets done.

Methodology

The ROI analysis is based on a structured survey of more than 100 active GC AI customers conducted in December 2025. The study captures self-reported data on time saved, perceived accuracy versus generalist AI tools, and changes in outside counsel spend, reflecting real-world usage.

Learn more at gc.ai.

About GC AI

GC AI is the trusted AI workspace for in-house legal teams, helping them move faster, work smarter, and drive their companies forward. With industry-leading accuracy, Microsoft Word integration, and enterprise-grade security and compliance, GC AI serves 1200+ legal teams including more than 50 public companies, 25 unicorns, and top enterprises like Webflow, Bass Pro Shops, Hitachi, Vercel, and Liquid Death are GC AI customers. Founded by Cecilia Ziniti and Bardia Pourvakil, GC AI combines deep legal expertise with world-class engineering to help companies turn legal into a competitive advantage. Based in San Francisco with a distributed team.

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CONTACT: Media Contact

Mary Williams

CMO @GC AI

[email protected] 651.247.7991

KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA CALIFORNIA

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES LEGAL TECHNOLOGY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SOFTWARE

SOURCE: GC AI

Copyright Business Wire 2026.

PUB: 01/12/2026 04:00 PM/DISC: 01/12/2026 04:00 PM

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