Resource Library

A paper by ACC commenting on the trends and differences, if any of a CLO and GC title / role.

Based on responses from over 1,300 in-house counsel in 41 countries, the ACC Chief Legal Officer 2016 Survey offers legal departments, law firms, and other legal industry partners insight on the practices, trends and changes in the role of the CLO. The 2016 report examines how CLOs source work in-house, to law firms and legal service providers. In addition, the report highlights plans and historical trends in hiring, staffing and budgeting. Notable findings include what keeps CLOs up at night, how they view the future of departmental budgets and staffing, where they plan to grow their departments, and where data breaches and regulatory issues have the greatest impact.

Based on responses from 1,800 in-house counsel in 53 countries, the Global Perspectives: ACC In-house Trends Report covers trending topics such as the inside-outside counsel relationship, career mobility, professional development, department resource allocation, cybersecurity, professional privilege, and more.

This report presents results on a subset of respondents from the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Chief Legal Officer (CLO) 2013 Survey, published in January 2013. A total of 1,104 individuals from 36 countries participated in this survey to provide a global outlook of CLOs worldwide. This report provides results and analysis of respondents from Canada (n=50) as well as demographic information, such as staffing, budget changes, revenue and more, while also exploring intangibles such as CCLOs’ top legal and business concerns for the past 12 months and their anticipations for the future.

This report presents results on a subset of respondents from the Association of Corporate Counsel Chief Legal Officer (CLO) 2014 Survey, published in January 2014. More than 1,200 individuals in 41 countries who serve as the organization's chief legal officer or general counsel (referred to as CLO in this report) participated in this survey to provide a global outlook of CLOs worldwide. This report provides results and analysis of respondents from Canada, as well as demographic information, such as staffing, budget changes and revenue, while also exploring intangibles, such as CLOs' top legal and business concerns for the past 12 months and their anticipations for the future.

To understand the driving forces behind the evolving role of the CLO and of corporate legal departments, the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) reached out to 9,600 indi- viduals. Survey results reflect data* from more than 1,200 individuals in 41 countries who serve as the organization’s chief legal officer or general counsel (referred to as the CLO in this report). From roles and responsibilities to salaries, skills and work environments, the study explored a broad range of topics.

New this year is a comparative analysis of the data from the 2013 and 2014 survey results, thereby addressing current trends facing law departments.

This survey explores the areas of personal career history, personal demographics, profile of the corporate legal department and the use of legal research and other products and services.

Based on responses from over 5,000 in-house counsel in 73 countries, ACC's 2015 Census Report offers legal departments, law firms, and other legal industry partners insight into one of the largest ever samplings of the in-house community.
Purchase an electronic copy of the full survey or download the free Executive Summary below.

A survey polling general counsels as to whom the general counsel the reported. Provides information regarding when the general counsel is more likely to report to the CEO, CFO, or President of the company.

The information contained in this Executive Summary and the Key Findings, along with the survey’s full report, provides useful data for corporate legal departments, law firms, and industry partners such as recruiters and litigation support providers. Issues covered in the survey included demographics, staffing, managing expenses, the changing role of the CLO, expectations for the coming year, and managing outside counsel.