A majority of global general counsel are now expected to support their companies on matters that extend beyond traditional legal advice, according to a report by KPMG International.
The 2026 Global General Counsel Outlook survey found that 75% of GCs are regularly asked to advise on non-legal issues, with 23% constantly expected to weigh in. As many as 92% of GCs also say they regularly interact with the board. KPMG says this points to a decisive shift in GC influence: no longer are GCs just viewed as legal gatekeepers, they are seen as business leaders who are expected to provide strategic judgement, governance expertise and risk analysis on key business decisions.
Adrian Tüscher, national leader at KPMG Law Switzerland, said: “The most effective legal leaders are embedded in the business, shaping decisions before risks materialise. Organisations that still treat legal as a downstream checkpoint are operating at a disadvantage.”
GCs say leadership most value advice that provides a balanced perspective of risk and opportunity (53%), followed by offering practical and relevant recommendations (41%). As many as 96% of GCs also said they expect their role will likely contribute to enterprise growth over the next three years, with 47% saying this was very likely.
That increased boardroom influence comes as broader operational demands grow, with 39% citing the volume and complexity of regulations as adding the most complexity to their roles, followed by an increase in the range of issues they need to advise on (36%) and the immediacy of when that advice needs to be delivered (31%).
Technology is also impacting how GCs do their jobs. More than half of GCs (51%) said understanding and implementing AI across the business is their top operational priority over the next three years, with 36% prioritising delivering faster and more strategic insights to the C-Suite and 35% prioritising expanding legal team capacity without increasing headcount. Those latter two are likely to be supported through greater AI adoption, with 87% expecting AI use in their organisations to increase significantly over the next three years.
Andrew Giverin, global legal business services leader at KPMG Law UK, said: “The real differentiator will be how deeply those capabilities are embedded into workflows, governance and decision making. The legal functions that lead will likely be those that use AI not just to work faster, but to rethink how legal insight is delivered across the enterprise.”
More than two-thirds of GCs (70%) say their legal teams are using AI for legal research and analysis, with 66% using it for privacy and data protection use cases and 65% for compliance and regulatory monitoring. More than three-quarters of GCs (79%) also agreed or strongly agreed that AI has significantly improved the efficiency of their document review, due diligence and document production processes.
However, 65% also agreed or strongly agreed that they are concerned about using generative AI for legal work due to accuracy issues.
The report was based on a survey of almost 500 senior legal leaders in 28 countries globally.
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