However, three-quarters of counsel also expect no growth in headcount in the next 12-18 months to cover the extra work, and more than 40% also plan to reduce spend by up to a third.
Consequently, heads of legal departments are realigning their operating models and focusing on technology, and data to drive value for their business. However, budgets for technology investment remain limited therefore teams are looking within at what technology they already have and how they might leverage it rather than purchasing more tech.
The information was gathered by Ashurst, in association with legal consultants OMC Partners, for a report published this week, ‘Legal operations―the shape of things to come’. It compiles the views of 50 in-house counsel leaders with an aggregated legal spend of about £4bn on the range of approaches they intend to implement in the next 12-18 months as they emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The research found legal departments are using existing technology to drive decision making. It also found a change in attitude towards office space with three-quarters of respondents planning to re-evaluate their teams’ real estate needs. Of those, 70% intend to remodel and optimise office space while 50% want to streamline their office footprints.
About 30% of respondents are considering adding legal operations managers roles to their team, highlighting how they want to focus on legal tech and spend management capabilities.
Helga Butcher, Ashurst's head of legal project management and legal process improvement, said: ‘There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to transforming legal operating models.
Our research has shown that law department leaders are developing a blend of cost reduction, efficiency and productivity approaches to their transformation programmes.’
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