AI use has become widespread among conveyancing firms but just 14% have embedded it as standard practice, exposing a gap between experimentation and firm-wide adoption.
InfoTrack’s 2026 Digital Conveyancing Maturity Index finds 85% of firms are using at least one form of AI, but 69% describe its use as individual experimentation and only 18% have rolled it out across a team.
AI recorded a digital maturity score of just 29.3%, the lowest of the six areas assessed in the biennial study.
The findings come despite the overall digital maturity of conveyancing firms improving by almost 10% in relative terms since 2024, with the average score increasing from 54.4% to 59.8%.
AI EXPERIMENTATION
The most common applications of AI are producing client reports, cited by 42% of firms, followed by document analysis and enquiries, both at 38%.
InfoTrack says the challenge is now moving from individual experimentation towards controlled and repeatable processes that can deliver measurable benefits.
Sam Jordan, Chief Operating Officer at InfoTrack UK, says: “We’re in an AI contradiction. AI use is widespread. Governed, firm-wide adoption is not.
“Content tasks are the most common named AI uses because outputs are visible and can be professionally reviewed, but critical risk assessment and triage remain much less common.
“The opportunity now is to apply the same discipline to use cases with measurable operational value, such as identifying missing information, surfacing exceptions, or supporting deadline management. The value is not an isolated faster answer. It is less repetitive reading, clearer exceptions and more time for professional judgement.”
MANUAL PROCESSES
The research also exposes the extent to which manual processes remain embedded in the property transaction.
At the pre-completion stage, 70% of firms still share documents by email, 65% manage deadlines manually or through spreadsheets and 81% rely on manual risk reviews or double-checking.
Half manage enquiries through post or email and just 15% use a shared workspace connecting both sides of the transaction.
Only 16% use technology that sends and receives documents and automatically saves them back to the firm’s case management system, while 82% still log directly into lender-panel platforms to upload documents and updates.
DIGITAL ONBOARDING
Greater progress has been made during onboarding.
Almost nine in 10 firms, 89%, now use digital identity verification, 74% have a digital source-of-funds process and 68% complete transaction forms digitally.
But fragmentation remains. Some 71% continue to use phone, email or post for onboarding communications and 66% make manual calls to verify recipient bank account details.
Post-completion is also becoming more automated, with integrated AP1 submissions increasing from 37% of respondents in 2024 to 51% in 2026. Integrated SDLT submissions have increased from 40% to 44%.
MID-SIZED FIRMS LEAD
InfoTrack also finds mid-sized law firms have overtaken smaller practices in digital maturity.
Firms employing between 26 and 199 people account for two-thirds of the highest-performing group in 2026. Smaller firms with up to 25 employees, which accounted for more than half of the leading cohort in 2024, now represent 25%.
Bell Lamb & Joynson recorded the highest individual maturity score for the second consecutive Index at 94.5%, followed by Thomas Flavell & Sons at 88.3% and The Partnership at 82.1%.
Jordan adds: “The change suggests that many mid-sized firms have successfully closed the digital maturity gap, overcoming the coordination challenges often associated with larger teams to accelerate technology adoption and transformation.
“This does not mean that size guarantees maturity. The shift appears to be less about access to technology and more about whether firms can embed it consistently across the organisation.”
