Irish lawyers are losing the equivalent of nearly 18 weeks of working time each year to non-billable tasks, according to a new report released today. The “Profitability in Law: Global Report 2026,” commissioned by legal practice management software company LEAP Legal Software, found that UK and Irish legal professionals spend almost three hours daily on work that isn’t directly billed to clients.
Despite this significant time drain, 69% of lawyers in the UK and Ireland reported increased profitability over the past 12 months. However, the report reveals a widespread belief that firms are operating below their potential, with 93% of respondents believing their firm could be more profitable and 70% prioritizing profit improvement.
Pricing pressure was identified as the largest obstacle to profitability, cited by 51% of those surveyed. A further 41% pointed to the need for expense reduction. Inefficiencies within firms were too a major concern, with 43% attributing issues to the use of too many disparate systems, 41% citing limited access to artificial intelligence (AI) tools for document review and research and 40% highlighting excessive manual administrative work.
The report also paints a concerning picture of lawyer wellbeing. A substantial 85% of lawyers in the UK and Ireland reported burnout as a problem within their firms, while 84% identified staff turnover as a significant issue. Nearly 40% of firms were found to lack sufficient staff capacity, and 13% reported a shortage of support staff.
Technology adoption, particularly in the realm of AI, is emerging as a potential solution. 79% of lawyers reported that their firms are already realizing moderate or significant time savings through the use of AI, with 33% utilizing it for document review and 26% for drafting and document generation. A strong level of trust in legal technology providers was also evident, with 88% of respondents expressing confidence in their ability to integrate AI tools responsibly, and safely.
However, investment in technology remains uneven. Only 16% of firms surveyed had invested in reducing administrative burden, and just 35% had prioritized improvements to technology and tools overall. A lack of AI tools for client outreach and opportunity identification was identified as a barrier to growth by 40% of respondents. When evaluating AI tools, lawyers placed equal importance on speed and the ability to verify responses, each cited by 40% of those surveyed.
Shane Branagan, CEO at LEAP Ireland, emphasized the importance of minimizing non-billable hours. “Time not earning is time that could be spent doing almost anything else,” he said. “What is encouraging is that the advent of AI is changing this reality and fast, already delivering real time savings for the firms that have adopted the right tools. The challenge now is closing the gap between those firms and the ones yet to act – spreading the benefits and clawing back precious time.”
