What this occupation does
Lawyers represent clients in criminal and civil litigation and other legal proceedings, draw up legal documents, and manage or advise clients on legal transactions. The role spans courtroom advocacy, contract negotiation, client counsel, and regulatory advisory across practice areas.
The exposure score in context
The ILO 2025 refined Generative AI Occupational Exposure Index places lawyers in the moderate exposure gradient. ILO 2025 places lawyers in the moderate exposure gradient. Drafting and research are highly exposed; courtroom advocacy, client counsel under uncertainty, and ethical-judgement components are augmentation-prone but not displaceable at task level.
The mapping uses ISCO-08 code 2611 (BLS-published SOC-to-ISCO crosswalk). The full methodology, including the dominant-match rule for one-to-many crosswalks, is at /methodology/#algorithm.
The top five tasks, classified
The top five O*NET 30.2 tasks for this occupation, each tagged Displaceable / Changing / Growing per the Brookings 2024 task-level rubric. The tag definitions are at /glossary/#displaceable-task, /glossary/#changing-task, and /glossary/#growing-task.
- Growing: Advise clients concerning business transactions, claim liability, advisability of prosecuting or defending lawsuits, or legal rights and obligations. Client counsel under uncertainty is augmentation-prone per Brookings 2024 and grows in importance as AI handles more research.
- Changing: Interpret laws, rulings and regulations for individuals and businesses. AI accelerates legal-research and first-draft interpretation; final ethical-bound interpretation remains attorney-led.
- Changing: Analyse the probable outcomes of cases, using knowledge of legal precedents. Outcome analysis is AI-augmented; case strategy and risk-tolerance judgement remain human.
- Growing: Present and summarise cases to judges and juries. Courtroom advocacy is physical, social, and contextually constrained; AI cannot substitute at task level.
- Changing: Prepare and draft legal documents, such as wills, deeds, patent applications, mortgages, leases and contracts. AI-drafted documents are widely used; final accountability and bespoke clauses remain attorney-supervised.
What is growing in this role
The BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035 outlook for lawyers is faster than average (+5% projected change). Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035.
Per the WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025, the top three growing skills relevant to this role are: Analytical thinking, AI and big data, Leadership and social influence. The skills are mapped to the occupation's O*NET skills profile.
Brookings 2024 finds legal practice among the most-exposed knowledge work; courtroom work, ethical accountability, and client counsel are augmentation-prone.
Similar occupations
O*NET 30.2 lists the following related roles. Each links to its own deep dive where one is published.
- Paralegals and Legal Assistants
- Human Resources Specialists
- Insurance Underwriters
- Financial Analysts
- News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists
Industry context
This role sits primarily in the Legal industry. The industry-level rollup includes the cross-occupation exposure profile and the BLS-published industry-level outlook.
How this assessment was made
The full methodology is at /methodology/: ILO 2025 refined index for the gradient, Brookings 2024 rubric for the task tags, BLS 2025-2035 for the growth outlook, WEF 2025 for the skills demand. The pre-empted critiques are at /how-to-argue-with-this/.