A recent study from CEB legal found legal department across the board are struggling to secure additional resources from company management. Only 47 per cent of survey respondents from large companies reported that their budget had been increased over the last year, while 43 per cent said that their budget allocation had shrunk. A further 10 per cent had witnessed no change at all in the amount of money allocated to their department in the last 12 months.

Midsized companies spending more

However, the portrait seems to be different for lawyers working in-house at midsized companies. By way of comparison, more than half (57 per cent) of respondents in this category said that their budget had been expanded in the last year, while only 36 per cent saw a reduction in their spending capacity over the course of the year. For those who experiences increases, the budget allocation for their department grew by an average of 29 per cent. Moreover, midsized companies appear more willing to dedicated a larger percentage of their total revenues to legal than larger companies. While the average allocation among bigger players was around 0.43 per cent, this figure was comparatively higher at 0.677 per cent for midsized companies.

The full findings of CEB Global’s study can be accessed here.