In 2023, 9% of people said they had used ChatGPT to research an attorney. In 2024 it was 21%. In 2025, 28%. By 2026, 41.9%.
| Year | Used ChatGPT to research an attorney |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 9% |
| 2024 | 21% |
| 2025 | 28% |
| 2026 | 41.9% |
That is the shift in four numbers. iLawyer Marketing, a legal marketing agency, has asked the same question of a national consumer sample every year since 2023. The 2026 wave included 1,110 respondents between the ages of 18 and 65.
It is worth noting who published it. iLawyer sells websites and search marketing to law firms. This is not a finding they had any reason to go looking for, which is part of why it is worth taking seriously.
The same survey also tracked use of Google to research an attorney, which fell from 86.7% in 2025 to 71.9% in 2026 — the steepest one-year drop in the history of the series.
Google is still first. It will be first for a while. But a channel that gives up fifteen points in twelve months is one experiencing a tectonic shift, and the direction is not in dispute.
The habit of double-checking is weakening
There is a second shift underneath the first one, and in some ways it matters more than the headline number.
In 2025, 94% of people who used ChatGPT to research an attorney said they would also verify what they found on Google. By 2026, that had fallen to just over 70%.
For a growing group of people, the AI answer is not the beginning of the research. It is the end of it. They ask, they get a response naming two or three firms, and they act on it without going anywhere else.
That is a meaningful change in how a prospective client arrives at your door — or does not.
What this means for your website
The version of search your firm was built for assumed a person typed a question, got ten links, and clicked one. Your website’s job was to be one of those ten and then to convince whoever arrived. And in some instances, you paid to catapult yourself via advertising to stand atop those ten blue links.
That is still happening. It is just happening less, to fewer people, with less of the decision riding on it. A growing share of prospective clients now get an answer that names three or four firms and never click anything at all.
By the time your phone rings, a shortlist already exists. It was assembled somewhere you were not present, out of material you did not write.
You have more influence over that list than you think — just not where you have been prioritizing your time and money.
The full data and more is in our new report: The Plaintiff Lawyer’s Guide to Being Found in the Age of AI.
RebuttalPR is a litigation communications firm built for the plaintiffs’ bar. Through earned media, thought leadership, and the stories your cases produce, we build the authority and reputation that clients look for and that AI relies on. Our team are veterans of AAJ, state trial lawyer associations, and Public Justice. We do this work because we believe in the plaintiffs’ bar and the clients it serves. If something here raises a question about your own firm, reach us at the form below.
