The issue affecting in-house lawyers isn't technology, remote working, legal ops, ALSPs providers, ESG, or data privacy.
It's a
lack of time.
The Association of Corporate Counsel Australia just released the 2021 in-house counsel trends report. In almost all of the key findings, the underlying narrative is that in-house teams don't have enough time.
For example:
The main barrier to choosing ALSPs is a lack of time to understand all the offerings
A key barrier to adopting new legal software was that it's too time consuming
Time is increasingly eaten by newer challenges such as data privacy, cybersecurity, digital transformation and employee health & saftey - all of which pile ontop of normal, business-as-usual legal work
As a result, the once enviable work-life balance of in-house teams is eroding, with 40% of corporate counsel working up to 50 hours a week, and a 24% up to 60 hours.
Takeaway is that in-house lawyers are really really busy, and getting busier.
Do you agree? Leave comments below.
