Trends and opportunities

Major purchasers of legal services are changing their approach to buying services across the globe. Overall, demand for legal services is growing. Every participant said that their expenditure on legal matters was increasing in at least one area. Expectations are not currently being met in several crucial areas.
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1. Integrated, cross-border advice beyond legal. Law firms are seen to be trailing other professional services firms in their ability to offer integrated multidisciplinary services.
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2. Use of technology. Participants are looking for better, more relevant technologies, to be used and shared on integrated platforms.
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3. Regulatory and global compliance advice. Nearly half (49%) of all participants said that their department’s legal spend was growing in the area of regulatory compliance. Global compliance is perceived as a major issue for in-house lawyers.
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4. Fixed fees, value pricing and greater transparency. Participants most frequently mentioned fixed or capped fees (30% of all responses), while over a quarter of responses (27%) referred to some form of value-based pricing.

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Market Size

Even though many people are associated with legal service in today’s world, but due to the pandemic the legal services market size has declined, largely due to the economic slowdown across countries. the market is expected to recover though in the coming years. 

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Conventional law firms are no longer meeting today’s business needs. The majority (55%) of participants in the study (legal counsel, general counsel – or CEOs and CFOs) have taken or are considering a significant review of their legal suppliers.

Global compliance is perceived as a major issue for in-house lawyers, with over a quarter (26%) saying it is the biggest challenge within their department. Doing more with less, appropriate use of technology and the speed of business also are among the biggest challenges for in-house legal departments today.

Most participants said that technology had not replaced the tasks of in-house lawyers (77%) – yet. But over half (52%) said that this will happen over the next five years. Purchasers want better and more relevant technologies, to be used and shared on integrated platforms.

One in three legal services purchasers surveyed, wanted their legal services provider to bring industry, commercial and non-legal expertise. They also want law firms to stay updated and alert about global data and cyber security protection issues and more pro-active in sharing knowledge across many jurisdictions. Traditional law firms are seen to be trailing other professional services firms in this area.