More Chief Legal Officers Plan on Hiring in 2010

The Association of Corporate Counsel’s 10th annual Chief Legal Officer Survey finds that more chief legal officers plan on hiring this year. Don’t take this to mean that economic pressures and budget issues have receded. The additional hiring indicates that the poor economy is forcing chief legal officers to bring more work in-house and spend less on outside counsel along with increasing spending on alternative fee arrangements.

970 chief legal officers participated in this year’s survey. 29% said they are planning to add to their departments, while last year only 23% planned to do the same. 34% have said they have reduced spending on outside counsel. When chief legal officers do hire outside counsel it is more common to negotiate alternative fee arrangements to reduce costs. 44% negotiated alternative fees in 2009 and 41% in 2008.

Over half of respondents said their work has increased because of increased regulation. 57% were concerned by increased scrutiny by regulators and law enforcement. Despite all these hardships over 90% of chief legal officers are satisfied with their careers, up from 88% last year.