UK Law Firms Show 10% Rise in Digital Maturity but Only 14% Have Embedded AI as Standard Practice, New Conveyancing Index Finds

The Digital Conveyancing Maturity Index (DCMI) 2026, published on 2 October 2026 by conveyancing platform InfoTrack, found that the average digital maturity score across property law firms climbed from 54.4% in 2024 to 59.8% in 2026, a 9.9% relative improvement. The DCMI is a biennial benchmarking report covering six operational areas including integration, onboarding, AI adoption, and post-completion processes. For the first time, the 2026 index included an AI section, which recorded the lowest average maturity score of all six categories at 29.3%. While 85% of respondent firms reported using at least one form of AI, only 14% described it as standard practice across their organisation, and only 18% had deployed it across a team. The majority, 69%, characterised their AI use as individual experimentation. The largest use cases were client reports (42%), document analysis (38%), and enquiries (38%), all areas where human review of AI output is relatively straightforward. InfoTrack chief operating officer Sam Jordan described the result as an 'AI contradiction': widespread use coexisting with a near-total absence of firm-wide governance or strategy to move from pilot to standard process. The index found that pre-completion remains the most digitally immature transaction stage, with 70% of respondents sharing documents by email, 65% managing deadlines manually, and 81% relying on manual risk review. Post-completion showed the clearest progress, with integrated AP1 (a Land Registry electronic submission form) submissions rising from 37% to 51%. In terms of firm size, mid-sized firms of 26 to 199 employees now make up two-thirds of the top-performing cohort, overtaking smaller firms that previously dominated the rankings. Bell Lamb & Joynson achieved the highest score for a second consecutive edition at 94.5%.