Issues and trends facing in-house counsel in Canada

Our 2019 report explores issues and trends faced by in-house counsel and law firms and whether or not they are prepared to make changes to drive long-term strategic value within their organization.

With over 200 surveys conducted across Canada and the United States, our research shows that most legal teams have not undergone significant change since 2017, but we feel the industry is on the verge of disruption. In this report, we identify the top priorities for CLOs in the coming year and opportunities for in-house teams to maximize technology and talent investments.

We’ve focused on three areas that will continue to have a significant impact on the legal industry in the years to come, and ones we believe can help CLOs bridge the gap between the many roles they play:

• Operations: CLOs continue to focus on insourcing more work and utilizing AFAs to maintain or decrease their external legal spend, with law firms attracting the majority of spend.
• Technology: Legal teams remain hesitant to invest in technological solutions, a critical yet underused means to achieving best-in-class status.
• Talent: CLOs continue to prioritize legal/technical skills over emerging critical skills such as data analytics, talent management and communications.