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Thomson Reuters releases 2022 State of Corporate Law Departments Report
Practical Law ANZ Legal Update w-035-0483 (Approx. 5 pages)
Thomson Reuters releases 2022 State of Corporate Law Departments Report
by Practical Law In-house
| Published on 31 Mar 2022 • Australia, Federal |
On 22 March 2022, Thomson Reuters released its 2022 State of Corporate Law Departments Report (Report), exploring key priorities of corporate law departments during the period of rapid change that began during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues through 2022. The Report indicates the most successful legal departments will be those which can leverage the momentum of the last two years to actively embrace transformative change, both within their own organisations and in their relationships with outside advisers.
New 2022 State of Corporate Law Departments Report
On 22 March 2022, Thomson Reuters released its 2022 State of Corporate Law Departments Report (Report).
Corporate law departments underwent a period of rapid change during the global COVID-19 pandemic, and that ongoing crisis loomed heavily through 2021 even as the whole world progresses into a new, post-pandemic era. Where 2020 and 2021 saw the emergence of new ways of working rapidly imposed because of the pandemic, 2022 looks to offer law departments the opportunity to drive positive change for their people and work.
The Report captures the experiences of more than 2,000 senior in-house and private practice lawyers globally. This year's findings reveal the intersections of talent and technology, and identify trends that are shaping client service delivery and ways of working.
Overall, 43% of corporate law department leaders around the world said they were expecting their total legal spend to increase in the coming 12 months, compared to 21% who said they were anticipating a reduction in their legal spend.
Key insights include:
- Legal spend benchmarks enabling an industry comparison and evaluation of a legal department's spend levels and allocations:
- Benchmarking spend relative to revenue: Measuring an organisation’s legal spend as a percentage of its revenue enables law departments to monitor movements in legal costs relative to corporate growth;
- Benchmarking future spending: To be efficient, law departments need to be able to plan ahead and assess the optimal way to resource the anticipated work. That means determining whether it can be handled by the existing in-house team, if additional headcount or different expertise should be hired, the volume of work by type, and whether it is best to outsource the work to external law firms or alternative legal service providers; and
- Benchmarking team size and cost per lawyer by region.
- Evidence-led advice on how to optimise the legal department and its outputs, including:
- Corporate law department performance correlation with successful outcomes data;
- Legal technology usage by law departments; and
- Technology value rankings and utilisation rates by law departments.
- Peer insights collated from other corporate legal departments across the world to inspire innovation and transformational change:
- The most important metrics cited by corporate law departments;
- Key themes driving purpose for in-house lawyers; and
- Key areas of impact on the community and wider society cited by in-house lawyers.
The Report concludes with key themes that should be on every law department’s agenda in the coming year, and an Action Plan that outlines practical steps that can be taken by law departments seeking to act on the key points raised in the Report.
Further reading
Practical Law's In-house Centre includes guidance and resources for in-house lawyers on legal department operations and management, including on the topics of: