ACC & Major, Lindsey & Africa’s Industry-Leading Law Department Management Benchmarking Survey offers new insights on legal staff breakdown by specialization, legal spend on internal staff vs. external resources, & legal technology spending
26 Junio 2024 - 10:05AM
The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and Major, Lindsey &
Africa (MLA) have today announced the release of
their industry-leading annual legal benchmarking survey.
The fifth report resulting from this partnership looks at some new
data that focuses more on staff composition, workload allocation,
and legal technology spend, the latter of which represents a
relatively small portion of overall legal spend, with smaller
companies allocating a higher proportion of their legal budget to
legal technology. Additionally, the report found a growing adoption
of legal technology solutions that support specific tasks,
including a steady rise in the adoption of AI-powered legal
technology tools.
In terms of core legal functions, similar to last year, privacy
(57 percent), compliance (56 percent), and ethics
(52 percent) are the three most common functions included in
the legal department’s responsibilities.
The executive summary provides high-level survey
results on headcount & structure, cost management, work
allocation, law firm & ALSPs usage, and diversity metrics.
Findings are based on responses from 421 legal departments in
organizations spanning 24 industries and 32 countries.
“The ACC/MLA Law Department Management Benchmarking Report
continues to adapt to capture critical and timely data law
departments need to improve efficiencies,” said Veta T.
Richardson, president & CEO of ACC. “In today’s
ever-evolving business and legal environment, law departments are
continuously being asked to do more with less. This report provides
CLOs and general counsel the comprehensive and nuanced insights
they need to make informed decisions regarding staff
specialization, work allocation, internal vs. external spend, legal
technology spending and adoption, and so much more.”
“Starting in the pandemic years, in-house legal departments saw
their roles expand as they were called upon to deal with a range of
unprecedented issues, like labor and employment, health and safety,
and return-to-office. Now, we continue to see the responsibilities
of an in-house legal professional further evolve as they grapple
with new challenges around the advent of burgeoning technologies
like AI,” said Lee Udelsman, Managing Partner in MLA’s In-House
Counsel Recruiting group. “As a result, we’re seeing increased
specialization particularly in terms of legal tech spending, as
in-house legal departments maintain a growing focus on compliance
and privacy issues.”
Key highlights from the data include:
- When looking at the
number of dedicated intellectual property and litigation lawyers in
participating legal departments, the report found that 14
percent of the lawyers on staff are dedicated to litigation,
while 7 percent of lawyers across all companies are focused
on intellectual property matters.
- Outside counsel
spend comprises a considerable portion of external legal costs,
accounting for an average of 87 percent of the total outside
legal budget. Litigation (excluding intellectual property) is the
most expensive category within outside counsel spend.
- Fifty-three
percent of legal tech spending is contained entirely within the
legal department budget, but the strategy shifts when it comes to
larger companies which are opting for shared services models where
the legal tech budget is shared between the legal department and
other business functions. Additionally, there's a rising trend in
adopting specialized legal tech tools, such as compliance office
tools (37 percent), matter management systems (36
percent), and AI-powered solutions (34 percent).
“Privacy” Remains the Most Common Business Function Overseen
by Legal
About 50 percent of respondents indicated that
compliance, privacy, and ethics fall under the scope of the legal
department, with privacy (57 percent) still being the top
function overseen by the CLO.
Total Legal Spend Increased
Total legal spend across participating companies increased from
$3.1 million in 2023 to $3.8 million this year. The
survey found that total legal spend increased dramatically by
company size, with companies with revenue between $1 billion and $5
billion spending a median of $6 million on legal, while
those with revenue between $5 billion to $10 billion spent almost
$32 million.
Total legal spend as a percentage of company revenue decreased
in this year’s survey to 0.5 percent of company
revenue compared to 0.63 percent last year. However,
the total inside/outside spend distribution has remained roughly
the same, with 52 percent of total spend going to internal
costs and 48 percent being allocated to outside costs.
Slight Increase Reported in Tracking Diversity
Metrics
In 2024, 32 percent of departments reported
tracking internal diversity metrics, compared to 28percent
in 2023 and 29 percent in 2022. However, the survey found
that progress has been limited when holding outside counsel
accountable for diversity. Participants highlighted the absence of
formal metrics, a narrow view of DEI, and lack of enforcement as
major challenges to tracking diversity.
Using data from this survey, the ACC offers custom benchmarking
reports, providing organizations a true comparison to their peer
group based on six criteria, and MLA’s recruiters can help turn
those insights into an actionable talent strategy. Companies
can also obtain guidance through the ACC partnership
with Smarter Law to highlight specific areas and actions
legal departments can take to help reduce costs and improve
efficiency.
To access the executive summary report which contains a
high-level overview of the survey results and key trends compared
to the 2023 edition of the survey, please contact either Dan Weber
(d.weber@acc.com) or Kerry Close (kclose@groupgordon.com). Full
survey results - broken down further by company revenue, industry,
legal department size, and company type — are available for
purchase on ACC’s website.
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About ACC Research: ACC Research provides
data-driven insights through survey reports and white
papers as well as benchmarking reports and advisory
services to support informed decisions by in-house legal
professionals.
About ACC: The Association of Corporate Counsel
(ACC) is the premier global legal association that promotes the
common professional and business interests of in-house counsel who
work for corporations, associations and other organizations
through information, education, networking,
and advocacy. For more than 40 years, ACC has set the standard
for in-house counsel and raised awareness regarding the value of
the chief legal officer in the C-suite and boardroom. With more
than 45,000 members employed by over 10,000 organizations and
spanning 100+ nations, ACC connects its members to the people and
resources necessary for both personal and professional growth. By
in-house counsel, for in-house counsel® remains the foundation for
ACC’s market leadership. For more information,
visit www.acc.com and follow ACC
on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
About Major, Lindsey & Africa:
Major, Lindsey & Africa is the world’s leading legal search
firm. The firm, founded in 1982, offers a range of specialized
recruiting to meet the ever-changing legal and governance needs of
law firms and corporations and to support the career aspirations of
talented lawyers, compliance professionals and C-suite executives
working to advance their career in the boardroom. With more than 25
offices and 200-plus search consultants around the world, Major,
Lindsey & Africa uses its market knowledge and experience to
partner with organizations to fulfill their legal and governance
talent needs and provide solutions to increase team efficiency and
effectiveness. Major, Lindsey & Africa is an Allegis Group
company, the global leader in talent solutions. To learn more
about Major, Lindsey & Africa, visit www.mlaglobal.com and
follow MLA on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook
and Instagram.
Dan Weber
Association of Corporate Counsel
2026961557
d.weber@acc.com