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Artificial intelligence has changed the rules of cybercrime. Attacks that once required significant skill and resource can now be executed at scale, at speed and with unsettling precision. Handling large amounts of sensitive client information makes law firms attractive targets for cybercriminals, with attacks on UK law firms surging by 77% in a single year.
And law firms are far from alone. Across UK sectors, the NCSC's Annual Review 2025 recorded a 130% increase in cyber incidents, identifying artificial intelligence as a key driver.
In a separate report, the NCSC warns that AI is already tipping the scales toward attackers by lowering the skill threshold needed to run sophisticated campaigns across any sector, shrinking the window between vulnerabilities being discovered and exploited.
Statistics like these make it clear that AI is accelerating cyber threats - and law firms must strengthen their defences.
How Criminals Are Using AI Against Law Firms
Phishing emails used to be easier to spot - poor grammar, odd phrasing, something slightly off. That is no longer the case. AI can now generate grammatically perfect, convincing messages that replicate the writing style of colleagues, partners or clients, complete with the right logos and tone. For law firms managing client correspondence and financial transactions, this significantly increases the risk of convincing payment diversion or email account takeovers.
Phishing is already the most common form of cyber attack facing firms. The UK Government's Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025 found that 79% of UK businesses experienced phishing attacks, making it the most widely reported cyber incident. AI is making this method more effective, with AI-generated phishing achieving significantly higher click-through rates than human-crafted attacks.
Then there are deepfakes. In 2024, a finance worker transferred $25 million after a video call in which every participant - including the CFO - was a deepfake. For law firms, this tactic could easily target conveyancing, M&A or litigation teams who routinely authorise significant transfers under time pressure - a convincing deepfake posing as a client, lender or senior partner is all it takes.
The Repercussions Are Severe - And Most Law Firms Are Not Ready
A successful cyber attack doesn't just take down your systems. It can end your business.
The average cost of a data breach in the UK now stands at £3.29 million – before factoring in downtime, recovery costs, and reputational damage. For law firms, the regulatory exposure is compounded. The ICO can issue significant fines under GDPR Article 32, and the SRA expects firms to have robust data security measures in place - making it critical for firms to understand their exposure before an incident occurs.
Yet the gaps are stark. Only 19% of businesses have any cybersecurity training programme in place, and 78% have no incident response plan. Board-level responsibility for cyber risk has fallen to just 27% of organisations.
Too many firms assume their IT provider is managing this. They are not.
Cyber risk management and IT support are not the same thing - and firms that recognise this are the ones best placed to respond.
What You Need to Do
Cyber attacks are inevitable. What you do now is what matters. The right response comes down to three things: Assess your exposure. Act on the gaps. Assure ongoing resilience.
Assess: Start with an independent risk assessment - covering people, processes and governance, not just technology. Your IT provider cannot do this objectively. With AI lowering the bar for attackers, gaps that once seemed minor are now critical for law firms.
Act: Build and test an incident response plan. If your firm suffered a cyber attack tomorrow – AI-driven or otherwise - would you survive? Furthermore, if your staff are using AI tools such as Copilot or ChatGPT, ensure clear policies are in place on what client data is being shared.
Assure: Board-level accountability is no longer optional - cyber risk is a leadership issue, not an IT one. Treat it as an ongoing discipline, not a one-off exercise. That means regular assessments, continuous oversight, and having a trusted cyber partner with specialist legal sector expertise.
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