Junior lawyers are used to feeling like cogs in a machine. According to a new report, a surprising number of law firm leaders expect to be able to replace them with actual machines—and soon.

In a large-scale survey released this month, 35 percent of law firm leaders said they could envision replacing first-year associates with law-focused computer intelligence within the next five to 10 years. That's up from less than a quarter of respondents who gave the same answer in 2011.

The survey, conducted by law firm management consulting firm Altman Weil, included responses from chairs and managing partners at 320 firms with lawyer head counts ranging from 50 to more than 1,000.