A Summary of Findings from the 2023 Canadian In-House Counsel Report − Insights into Canada's In-House Profession

  • January 31, 2023
  • Paula Poniatowska, H.B.A, LL.B

The Canadian In-House Counsel survey conducted by the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association (CCCA) & Mondaq provided a summary of the state of Canada's in-house legal profession highlighting priorities and challenges to be faced in the year ahead. The survey was designed in partnership with an advisory board composed of in-house counsel. 678 lawyers across the country and all job levels participated and the topics that were covered in the survey provided insight into legal departments’ spending, staffing, investment, insourcing and outsourcing. Such information and data need to be collected as it provides lawyers with valuable insights into what makes a great in-house lawyer in 2023 and it can highlight current challenges and priorities at the industry level allowing for solutions to be developed. 

Who partook in the survey?

The survey had the following response levels from public companies (28%) and private companies (24%), representing all the key industry sectors and organization sizes, as well as from government organizations (34%) and not-for-profits (9%). [1] In addition, 25% of participants providing a view from the top (CLOs/GCs) and representation throughout legal departments with a significant number of responses from Associate GCs (7%), Senior Counsel (21%), Counsel (34%) and Director of Legal Services/Legal Managers (8%). [2]

Summary of Findings

People and Talent

  • Present challenges to Canadian in-house legal departments are the new working arrangements since the pandemic, with 87% of legal departments working on a hybrid basis and 27% of these not mandating staff to spend any time in the office.[3]
  • It was found that the profession continues to see high levels of work-related stress and anxiety levels, with 46% of respondents seeing an increase in work-related stress and anxiety levels in the last year, compared to just 13% seeing a decline.[4]
  • There remains a clear call to action for legal department leaders and managers to put in place more programs, which support employee wellbeing.[5]
  • The study concluded that in-house personnel are carrying significant accountability beyond their legal responsibilities, with over 45% of in-house counsel also responsible for the compliance, while one in four is responsible for investigations and the same ratio is responsible for ethics. [6]
  • The data showed that 20% of in-house counsels are now responsible for government relations (up from 17% in 2021). While just 11% of in-house counsels are also responsible for ESG, this number has increased by a third since 2021. [7] 
  • The data highlighted the additional accountability is centred on CLOs/GCs, with 58% responsible for compliance, 44% for ethics and 33% for investigations. [8]
  • It was found that ESG is rapidly becoming a key responsibility for CLOs/GCs, with nearly one in five CLOs/GCs now also responsible for ESG (up from 11% in 2021). [9]
  • The data showed that in-house lawyers require so much more than legal skills, with the most common three skills mentioned for an effective in-house lawyer today being communication, followed by understanding the business and flexibility/adaptability.[10]
  • A trend revealed by the study was an increase in the number of in-house counsels moving into non-legal business roles such as HR, risk and compliance, management, ESG and strategy roles.