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.