The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) has presented the results of the 2022 Chief Legal Officers Survey in partnership with Exterro, ACC Alliance Partner for E-Discovery, Data
Privacy and Cybersecurity Compliance. For over 20 years this annual survey has sought to capture insights from Chief Legal Officers (CLOs) on the evolution of their role and that of the complex corporate legal department environment. It serves as a cornerstone for the entire in-house community as to the trends, challenges, and opportunities for the year ahead from the CLO perspective.
This year’s results reveal a rapidly evolving and dynamic corporate legal environment where legal officers and their departments are playing an even greater role to shape and influence the broader business.
The report highlights ten key findings:
- THE CLO CONTINUES TO PLAY A VITAL ROLE IN THE BUSINESS
- INCREASING RESPONSIBILITY IS BEING PLACED ON CLO
- INVESTMENT IN LEGAL OPERATIONS IS ACCELERATING
- CLOs EXPECT TO HIRE MORE STAFF THIS YEAR
- CYBERSECURITY, COMPLIANCE, AND DATA PRIVACY REMAIN THE MOST CRITICAL AREAS FOR THE BUSINESS
- HIGHER REGULATORY ENFORCEMENT WILL LIKELY LEAD TO GREATER WORKLOAD IN 2022
- M&A POSES TOP UPCOMING LEGAL RESOURCE CHALLENGE
- ESG ISSUES CONTINUE TO GAIN RELEVANCE AND IMPACT BUSINESS STRATEGY
- CONTRACT MANAGEMENT IS TOP TECH AREA IN WHICH CLOs PLAN TO INVEST
- CLOs SEE DELIVERING VALUE TO CUSTOMERS AS THE TOP PRIORITY, BUT INVESTING IN EMPLOYEES GROWS IN IMPORTANCE
You can read the full report here.