Law’s AI revolution should inspire the Government’s growth mission

Is bureaucracy putting the brakes on UK growth?

It’s a timely question to ask. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has warned that the UK may be stuck in a ‘low-growth trap’. Its most recent economic forecast shows UK GDP growth ticking up slightly to 1.3% in 2025, but business investment is projected to grow by just 1.6%, a sharp downgrade from earlier expectations.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves recognises that removing the barriers to growth is a key mission for this government. So, when she pledged a ‘radical shake-up’ of bureaucracy earlier this year, many UK businesses welcomed the promise of streamlined regulation and faster decision-making.

But progress since then has been slow. Despite pledges to reform business rates and support small firms, investment is still being held back by outdated rules and uncertainty.

In looking for ways to tackle bureaucracy and unlock growth, the Government should look at the revolution taking place in legal services.

For many of the in-house legal teams we are speaking to, legal complexity not only slows decision-making but also strains teams already mired in bureaucratic processes.

This has far-reaching consequences. In-house legal teams contribute an estimated £26billion to the UK economy. They are the backbone of business continuity. But buried under contracts, risk reviews, and compliance checks, they’re often reduced to bottlenecks.

Rather than enabling agility, many legal departments find themselves entangled in red tape, struggling to keep pace with regulatory shifts and compliance demands.

Left unchecked, this drag on internal capacity will put the brakes on investment and innovation.

But here’s the nuance: bureaucracy isn’t the enemy. Poorly enabled bureaucracy is. 

I see bureaucracy not as a blocker, but as a framework. When empowered with the right tools, bureaucracy can drive the clarity and confidence needed to power growth.

The good news is those tools are now out there to make this happen, and legal services is leading the charge. AI-powered technology is enabling legal teams to simplify the complex, automating labour-intensive administrative tasks, accelerating decision-making, and reducing the friction that slows business down.

This is not just about efficiency. It’s about in-house legal departments becoming strategic enablers of business outcomes. And the change is well underway.

Research we conducted with over 500 legal professionals, executives, and AI practitioners this year found that for those embracing AI tools, contract review and drafting are now 50% faster on average, with some teams reporting reductions of up to 75% – equating to an average time saving of two hours per document. Respondents also reported a 30% reduction in average wait times for legal reviews.

This is a great example of the private sector proving what’s possible when empowered with the right tools.

Now it’s time for government to follow suit.

As the Autumn Budget approaches, there is a vital opportunity for the Chancellor to deliver the stability UK businesses need. We call for practical support to unlock investment, drive recruitment, and boost trade.

But fiscal policy alone isn’t enough. With fragile supply chains, geopolitical tensions, and persistent inflation, the UK economy remains vulnerable to shocks. What businesses need now are clear, adaptable frameworks that actively support growth.

The UK’s growth challenge isn’t simply a matter of excessive governance, though streamlining is long overdue. The real issue is governance that’s too slow, too manual, too outdated and too disconnected from the pace of business.

New technology is empowering legal teams to be agile, responsive, and aligned with commercial goals. It’s the kind of enablement that must be mirrored across government infrastructure if we’re serious about unlocking growth.

We believe the UK has the ability to be an AI powerhouse. The potential just needs to be unleashed. I was pleased to see the Chancellor recently commit to consulting on a cross-economy AI sandbox, to speed up approvals for the use of AI in legal services and other sectors, earlier this month. This is the sort of innovation we need to see.

So, is bureaucracy really killing UK growth? Only if we keep letting it. The problem isn’t regulation, it’s inertia. We are proving that when core business  operations are empowered, bureaucracy can be a growth engine. So let’s stop treating red tape as inevitable, and start enabling it, with technology that turns friction into fuel.