The 2026 Canadian In-House Counsel Report is now out. This report is published annually by CBA In-House Lawyers together with Mondaq and Legal 500, and is intended to provide insight into the priorities and challenges facing in-house lawyers today. (For your benefit, the following is a link to the report: https://2026-canadian-in-house-counsel-report-eng.com/.) It was released in February 2026 and draws on nearly 500 responses from lawyers across the country, with the largest provincial cohort being Ontario at 36%. These reports are a timely pulse on the state and trajectory of the legal profession. The key theme of this year’s report is that in-house counsel are asked to do more without the adequate resources.
For the third consecutive year, volume of work has been identified as the single greatest challenge facing in-house counsel at every job level. It was cited by 34% of respondents, and peaks at 38% among Legal Directors and Managers.
Demand for specific types of in-house services is rising as well: 51% of respondents predict a rise in activity in “Risk & Compliance” and “Data Privacy” matters, 48% cited increases in “Contract Management” services, 41 % of respondents identified a growing number of “Dispute Resolution & Litigation” matters, while 32 % of respondents pointed to more issues in “Labour & Employment”.
The skills sought after for in-house counsel are changing also. Understanding the client’s business has become the top skill considered to be necessary to effectively carry out an in-house lawyer’s duties, displacing communications. It is no longer enough to know the law; one must also know the business of their client.
Lawyers are also moving out of in-house roles. In 2025, 23% of respondents, compared to 19% in 2024, reported colleagues moving out of legal into HR, compliance, and executive positions.
In-house counsel are responding to the new realities and demands in several ways. First, technology: 49% of respondents expect to spend more on legal tech, the largest growth area for the third year running, and 78% of legal departments are now evaluating, piloting, or implementing generative AI. Second, headcount: 24% of respondents expect their teams to grow, with growth expectations highest among private companies where 32% of respondents expect their teams to grow. Third, retention and use of outside counsel: 37% of respondents expect to spend more on external counsel, and 60% of these respondents now cite insufficient internal capacity as the reason they outsource services.
Combined, the results of this report paint a concerning picture - there is an increase in work-related stress due to new demands on in-house counsel, but the resources and support are lacking.
Conclusion
The overall message of this latest report is of growing demands on in-house counsel across sectors. In-house teams must staff up and broaden their range of expertise in order to meet the needs of today’s clients. It is no longer sufficient to have a general legal background as in-house counsel. More is needed. In order for in-house lawyers to adequately respond to these growing demands, both private and public organizations should reconsider how they set their legal budgets and allow for growth and adequate resourcing.
What this article does not speak to, is the challenge of getting clients’ budgetary support to meet these new expectations. Hopefully, an additional benefit of this report will be to serve as evidence for in-house counsel when managing client expectations and improving legal budgets.
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