The survey, conducted by Proskauer’s Labor and Employment Law Department, shows that approximately 46 per cent of in-house counsel are expecting to increase their use of alternative fee arrangements in the coming year, while not a single respondent said they expected use to decrease. Additionally, different pricing models and approaches were ranked by the survey’s 100+ respondents as the most desired area of change for relationships between in-house teams and outside counsel, followed closely by cost reduction and lower outside counsel rates.

In-house headcounts

Proskauer’s study includes in-house counsel from numerous different industries and companies of varying sizes, from those with fewer than 100 employees to those with more than 10,000 staff on their books. While the average number of in-house counsel per organisation was calculated at 19 lawyers, the survey also found that 48 per cent of respondents had in-house legal teams with fewer than five members. On average, companies included in the survey are operating on a ratio of one in-house lawyer per 827 employees. Despite only seven per cent of respondents reporting plans to expand the size of their in-house team, 41 per cent said they anticipated shifting more work in-house over the same period.

Sources: Australasian Lawyer; Proskauer