GC AI Study: In-House Legal Teams Reclaim 14 Hours Per Week With Legal AI
GC AI released a new ROI study showing in-house legal teams are getting back an average of 14 hours per week by using purpose-built legal AI. The survey of 100+ active customers (December 2025) points to faster work, higher quality output, and lower costs compared to generalist AI tools.
Key findings
- 14 hours per week returned per user, on average
- 5+ hours per day reclaimed by top users (90th percentile and above)
- 14% reduction in outside counsel spend
- 21% greater accuracy compared to generalist AI tools
These results were reported consistently by 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."
Less outside counsel, lower spend
According to the ACC Law Department Management Benchmarking Report, the median company spends $1.8 million annually on outside counsel. A 14% reduction equals roughly $252,000 per year-often more than the cost of legal 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.
Where reclaimed time goes
Teams reported shifting recovered hours toward strategic advising, proactive risk planning, and deeper cross-functional work. Many also noted more sustainable workloads and fewer after-hours fire drills.
Adoption is now a daily habit
In June 2024, 56% of in-house lawyers reported never using AI at work. By December 2025, 55% said they use AI daily or hourly. As usage has matured, legal AI has moved into production-becoming part of daily workflows and changing how legal work gets done.
Methodology
Findings are based on a structured survey of 100+ active GC AI customers conducted in December 2025. Respondents self-reported time saved, perceived accuracy versus generalist AI, 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 enterprises like Webflow, Bass Pro Shops, Hitachi, Vercel, and Liquid Death. 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.
Contacts
Media Contact
Mary Williams, CMO @ GC AI
mary@gc.ai or 651.247.7991
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