Nearly all in-house teams send less work to outside counsel, new report shows
More than 50% of in-house teams have cut back on work that they send to outside counsel, and another 44% intend to take similar steps in the coming year, according to Everlaw’s In-House Innovation Report, which was published Tuesday. (Image from Shutterstock)
More than 50% of in-house teams have cut back on work that they send to outside counsel, and another 44% intend to take similar steps in the coming year, according to Everlaw’s In-House Innovation Report, which was published Tuesday.
“A big part of it is just confidence in what the technology provides,” Gloria Lee, the chief legal officer at Everlaw, told Law.com, which has coverage of the report.
Specifically, she cited legal departments’ increasing use of generative artificial intelligence-powered tools to handle their matters.
When considering which work should go to outside counsel, 56% of in-house teams said they rely on them for business and commercial insight, while 54% said they ask for assistance with complex matter management, according to Everlaw’s report. Only 27% request that outside counsel help with routine legal work.
In-house teams expect that as they rely less on outside counsel, they will also see changes in billing, according to the report. In the next five years, 81% think that most legal work will be completed with outcome-based pricing instead of the billable-hour model. Nearly half believe that transition will happen in the next three years.
Everlaw worked with Wakefield Research to gather responses from 300 in-house attorneys and legal operations professionals for its report.
Write a letter to the editor, share a story tip or update, or report an error.
