The latest edition of a key annual law department survey indicates that the fortunes of in-house attorneys are looking a bit brighter again, after departments weathered the difficulties of the financial crisis.

The “2013 HBR Law Department Survey,” conducted by HBR Consulting, collected information from 280 companies, domestic and global, to provide a picture of the trends impacting law departments. The survey revealed a 3 percent increase worldwide in companies’ total legal spending in 2012. In-house legal spending rose 5 percent, while spending on outside counsel rose by 2 percent.

Lauren Chung, survey editor and senior director of law department consulting at HBR, told CorpCounsel.com that this is the second survey in a row that has shown modest legal spending gains at companies. The 2010 and 2011 HBR surveys showed drops in spending, as departments reacted to the financial crisis and recession by cutting costs and reevaluating efficiencies; the 2012 and 2013 studies both track a reversal of that trend.

“It’s not really sustainable for law departments to cut costs for too long,” Chung said.

She explained that the gains in this year’s survey, however modest, suggest that companies have become more successful at cost control and rethinking in-house legal resourcing in a time of challenging economics.

Related Posts