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SPECIAL REPORT CORPORATE COUNSEL SURVEY 42 www.canadianlawyermag.com are historical relationships that need to be maintained at large organizations and banks, but I would assume that even those GCs that don't have autonomy probably have autonomy to request a change of the current counsel." Once again, risk management is the top issue facing legal departments in 2019, followed by compliance aspects, while technology and workplace issues including harassment and bullying are at the bottom of the list of prior- ities. Building an in-house team and legal department management came in at number three. O'Reilly agrees with the majority. "As you look at what we're doing on a day-to-day basis, one of our largest value drivers is being that strategic offering for analysis and understanding of risk, and, given the nature of the businesses, there is no shortage of risks arising from many different areas," he says. "You have us stretched thin to look at every aspect of what may face the organization, and risk is just that overarching statement of something that may happen and how we can mitigate against that." Nguyen adds: "In the absence of a dedi- cated risk officer, these things generally fall into the hands of the GC, and I don't think we are generally trained at thinking in the way that risk professionals do." As for compliance and regulatory matters, Nguyen believes it can be a challenge for GCs to know whether or not they are compliant, so seeking outside help is often advantageous in such issues. "The breadth of the environment in which we operate from a regulatory aspect is increasingly large because more organizations WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS THAT YOUR LAW FIRMS CAN DO TO IMPROVE WORKING RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR COMPANY? Listed in order of importance 1 Be more concerned with costs 2 Be more practical 3 Understand our business better 4 Be more creative/innovative overall 5 Provide more strategic advice 6 Be more proactive 7 Be more concerned with results 8 Act on our feedback 9 Other HOW MANY FIRMS RECEIVED THE TOP 80% OF YOUR CANADIAN LEGAL DEPARTMENT'S SPEND? 1 or 2 3 to 5 6 to 10 15+ 11 to 15 48.85% 42.75% 5.34% 3.05% 0% WHAT IS THE AVERAGE (ACTUAL) WORK WEEK FOR MEMBERS OF YOUR DEPARTMENT? 35-45 hours 46-50 hours 51-55 hours 56+ hours Don't know 42.34% 36.69% 12.41% 5.11% 1.46% IF YOU ARE ASKING LAW FIRMS FOR A DIVERSE ROSTER, HOW RECEPTIVE ARE THEY TO THE REQUEST? They are happy to do so They do it reluctantly They are happy to do so but do not have the data They are happy to do it, but the data sample is too small, thus compromising confidentiality and privacy 48.08% 11.54% 9.62% 3.85% are global," he says. "We're worriers by nature and there may be jurisdictions in which we operate that we may not be familiar with." While 42.34 per cent of respondents say they work 35 to 40 hours a week, 36.69 per cent work 46 to 50 hours per week, and most of the remainder work even longer hours. O'Reilly, Nguyen and Demone are all surprised by the results. "I would expect a considerably larger number of people working longer hours," says O'Reilly. Demone agrees, saying she would be shocked if any GCs are working less than 45 or 50 hours a week. However, with the current climate for flexible working, Demone questions what people consider to be work. "I may not be in the office more than 40 hours a week, but I certainly work more than 40 hours. I'm sending out emails before I leave for work in the morning or late in the evening," she says. Nguyen adds that senior staff who work directly with the CEO are expected to be available 24/7. Business is expected to boom with 59.85 per cent of respondents anticipating an upswing in the volume of legal work carried out by their legal department and external counsel combined during the next year. "The industry is changing and there are less standard template type answers that we're able to dole out as compared to before," says Demone. "More creative solutioning and outside-the-box thinking is needed, and that means the amount of work we have to spend time on has gone up."