Source: Thomson Reuters
Corporate legal priorities are shifting around the globe. The Thomson Reuters Institute spoke with over 1,500 corporate legal professionals from companies with over $1 billion in global revenue to learn about changing law department priorities and outlooks.
These findings reflect top priorities for corporate law in 2023 and beyond. Managing these transformative times may be a challenge, but there are strategies legal departments can lean on to make the most of the opportunities ahead.
Top findings
Here are some of the key findings of the report:
- Compliance is a major focus: Data from the 2023 State of the Corporate Law Department Report found that globally, compliance and new regulatory requirements are top of mind for legal departments. Some 22% of legal departments cite it as their top strategic focus, up from 15% in 2019.
- Spending is trending upwards: Corporate legal departments, led by firms focusing on regulatory work, expect to increase their net spend. However, increases in litigation costs and prevention are also drivers, along with compliance around global regulatory issues like environmental, social, and governance (ESG), cryptocurrency, and data protection.
- Smaller firms are benefiting from increased workload: Some of these spending increases tie directly to risk management and litigation preparation. An increasing number of smaller firms are seeing a growing share of Fortune 50 litigation work as more firms look to outsource to control costs and maximize value.
- Departments are trying to strike a balance between office/remote: Corporate law departments are trying to find the right balance between in-office and remote work for both efficiency and flexibility. Across the globe, hybrid working is the most popular choice, but there are still challenges with setting guidelines and making the most of in-person collaboration.
Read full article: https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/blog/legal-department-priorities-from-tri-annual-report/
