More heads of legal than ever now report directly to their CEO, according to new research which also found evidence of clients rethinking their relationships with external law firms due to their political stances.
The findings are contained within the Association of Corporate Counsel’s annual Chief Legal Officers Survey, which surveyed more than a thousand chief legal officers and highest-ranked legal executives around the world, covering 20 industries.
This year, 84% of global CLOs said they now report directly to the CEO or top-ranking executive officer at their company, the highest level on record, up from 79% last year and also above the previous record of 80%.
This upward trajectory was mirrored by European respondents to the survey, with 82% saying they report directly to the company CEO, up from 73% last year.
Introducing the results, ACC president and CEO Jason Brown – the former GC of GE Appliances who took over leadership of the organisation last November – described the trend as ‘a fundamental shift’ and said the office of the CLO was becoming ‘increasingly integrated within the C-suite structure’.
‘No longer merely a defensive gatekeeper focusing strictly on risk mitigation, the modern CLO is an “offensive” asset providing proactive strategic counsel,’ he added.
The report found evidence that legal heads are expanding their strategic influence, with almost half (47%) of respondents noting an increased frequency and depth of engagement in board-level discussions and C-suite strategic planning.
In addition, 62% of CLOs now own or directly oversee the corporate secretary function at their company, up from 54% in 2024.
Another key takeaway from the survey was the impact of political developments on the way top in-house lawyers engage with their external law firms, with 13% of respondents saying that they had changed their approach to evaluating and selecting outside counsel.
This was most notable among European respondents, with 18% saying they had changed their evaluation and selection criteria due to recent political developments in the US, ahead of the US (15%) and Canada (14%).
Of the 13% of global CLOs who have changed their approach, 41% specified that they had added new risk categories to their outside evaluation criteria – including vetting a firm’s political affiliations, public statements or client roster – before instructing them.
In addition, 37% of this group went one step further and reported that they had stopped working with specific law firms due to concerns about their political associations, stances on specific policies, and public profiles.
A number of prominent US law firms have been in the spotlight since US President Donald Trump took office for cutting deals with the administration to avoid the impact of his executive orders.
The report also highlighted the impact AI continues to have on in-house departments, both in terms of skills for legal heads and in the deployment of technology in the department.
More than half (52%) of CLOs said they plan to adopt new tech solutions in 2026, up from 44% last year. Generative AI was highlighted as the top priority, with 69% of respondents saying they would invest more in Gen AI over the next year.
