2025 GC Survey Report
Investing For Uncertainty: How GCs Are Building Resilient Legal Departments in 2025
For this global study, we surveyed General Counsel, Deputy General Counsel, and Chief Legal Officers across the U.S., EMEA, and APAC regions to understand how legal leaders navigate mounting uncertainty. Our findings reveal GCs defying corporate cost-cutting trends by investing strategically in legal operations, AI integration, and agile talent models.
The research demonstrates how today's GCs build multidisciplinary legal teams and implement flexible solutions to create resilience that extends beyond legal departments, ensuring their businesses remain prepared for uncertainty.
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What's In The Report?
In an era of mounting uncertainty, today's General Counsel are defying expectations by reshaping their roles as enterprise risk managers. They face ongoing policy upheaval, increasingly challenging global business environments, and AI looming ever larger—from technology, talent, training, and policy perspectives. Despite broader economic caution, 83% of GCs are strategically investing with budget increases averaging 10%.
Axiom's international survey of 500 GCs across the U.S., EMEA, and APAC reveals their three-pillar approach to building resilient legal departments: transformative investment in legal operations, strategic AI integration despite significant training gaps, and agile talent models that optimize resources. You'll discover how leading GCs are creating enterprise-wide resilience that extends beyond legal departments, positioning their organizations not merely to withstand disruption but to thrive amid uncertainty—ensuring their businesses remain prepared for whatever challenges emerge in 2025 and beyond.
GCs are channeling budget increases primarily into legal operations, with 87% reporting increased investment averaging 11%. The focus is on building multidisciplinary teams that combine legal professionals (47%), IT specialists (44%), and finance experts (36%). This strategy creates legal ops powerhouses capable of implementing new internal processes, shifting work to flexible talent providers, and adopting new legal technologies.
AI now influences 38% of legal department decisions, yet 70% of GCs acknowledge their teams lack sufficient training. While 76% have implemented AI policies covering authorized tools and use cases, there's an acute implementation gap in training and change management. GCs measure AI success differently by region, with efficiency, cost savings, and ability to handle more work in-house being the most common metrics.
Despite budget increases, 47% of GCs report insufficient resources, driving a shift toward agile talent models. Traditional law firm arrangements face scrutiny, with 97% reporting regrets after outsourcing work. Key priorities include better value (37%), specialized expertise (35%), and rapid deployment (32%). This has led 93% of GCs to embrace flexible legal talent providers, though awareness gaps exist regarding potential cost savings.
Get Axiom’s Latest Research Report: Investing For Uncertainty
Discover how 500 global General Counsel are navigating 2025's policy upheaval and business volatility with strategic investments in legal operations, AI integration, and agile talent models.
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