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More legal work T here will be a greater demand for corporate legal work in 2010, but law firms will not likely be reaping the benefits according to the annual Canadian Lawyer corporate counsel survey. Nearly 60 per cent of respondents from some of the top corporate and gov- ernment legal departments in Canada say they expect more combined internal and external legal work in 2010 com- pared to 2009. However, nearly 80 per cent of those respondents say the work will be done in-house. A major reason for the increase in work for in-house counsel is the chang- ing nature of regulation and legislation across North America. In-house counsel are seeing those demands in various ways, says Karen Bell, a Toronto law- yer and consultant who works with law firms, and corporate and government legal departments. "Certainly, corporate- ly, they are looking at significant increases in requiring expertise on the regulatory side and the continuing demand placed on them for more compliance," she says. "So they tend to look inside and want to develop their inside expertise because they feel that inside has a better perspec- tive of how the impact of the regulations flows through the company." Nearly 30 per cent of respondents to this year's survey came from the govern- ment ranks. Bell says public legal depart- ments are under the greatest pressure. "In-house legal budgets have been oper- ating fairly lean and mean for some time and that doesn't seem to be changing. They are in the spotlight so they have to be extra cautious about how they are managing their budgets." Canadian Lawyer received 105 sur- vey responses. Respondents' combined corporate legal budgets totalled more than $180 million a year. While not everyone answered every question, the 34 NO VEMBER / DECEMBER 2009 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com going inside Canadian Lawyer's annual corporate counsel survey shows legal departments expect increased demand, but the bulk of the work will be done in-house as cost control remains a top priority. BY KELLY HARRIS Was the amount you spent on external legal counsel higher, lower, or the same in the past year? 38% Same 44% Higher 19% Lower Numbers do not always add up to 100% due to rounding