Today, 70% of general counsels (GCs) plan on bringing their legal work in-house to reduce outside counsel spending, according to Thomson Reuters Institute’s “2024 Report on the State of the US Legal Market.”

This comes as outside counsel costs are rising and legal teams are being tasked with increasing efficiencies—or doing more with less—according to the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC). Its “2024 Chief Legal Officers Survey” found that nearly 60% of law departments experienced major rate hikes by their outside law firms and more than 40% received a mandate to cut legal costs. Accordingly, 40% of CLOs surveyed said they considered operational efficiency to be their law department’s highest strategic initiative for the next year, followed by the “right sourcing” of legal services. And 45% said they plan to invest in new legal technology to enhance their department’s overall efficiency.