The expanding remit for in-house legal (and the breaking point)

Over the past few years, the role of an in-house legal leader has expanded significantly, often taking on more non-traditional responsibilities and exerting greater influence at the executive level.
 
This growing influence brings opportunities, but it also creates pressure. As new technologies gather pace and budgets remain constrained, the support available to legal teams is not always growing at the same rate as their responsibilities. 

The data from our global in-house legal report and salary guide 2026-2027 makes clear that the expectations placed on in-house legal teams have grown faster than the support structures around them. With the risk of burnout, lost productivity, and talent attrition looming, business leaders looking to hire in-house legal staff must strike a balance to attract and retain exceptional talent.  

Understanding the new scope of in-house legal teams is crucial to finding that balance. 

A remit that now spans multiple risk areas  

In 2026, we surveyed more than 400 in-house legal professionals, and over 75% of senior legal leaders told us their role had “expanded significantly” or “expanded slightly” in the last two years, with only a small minority saying their role had remained the same. 

This aligns with the KPMG General Counsel Survey (2026), which saw 82% of surveyed GCs say their responsibilities had increased, with 70% taking on new enterprise‑wide risk areas beyond core legal work.  
 
The Plexus Future‑Ready General Counsel 2026 report also describes GCs as “enterprise-wide risk integrators” and “strategic value creators”. Together, these findings point to a legal function that is becoming more closely involved in commercial decisions and the management of business-wide risk. 

Our data shows in-house legal leaders absorbing responsibilities that may previously have sat across several functions. The most common additions to the remit include: 

• Risk management and compliance (41.8 %): consistently chosen across financial services, tech, industrials and FMCG 

• Data protection and privacy  (41.5%): now a near universal responsibility 

• Corporate governance and company secretarial work (40.5%): selected by a large proportion of UK respondents 

• Technology and AI governance (34.5%): selected by GCs in IT/Tech, media, insurance, fintech and engineering 

• Crisis management and business continuity (33.2%): increasingly part of the legal function’s day‑to‑day workload 

Resourcing is not keeping pace

Despite the additional work, resourcing has not kept pace with the growth in responsibilities over the last 24 months.  Over 45% told us that headcount hasn’t increased in line with their new remit, while 31% felt that the gap had only partially been addressed. 

In addition, nearly half (48.6%) do not expect headcount to change in the next 12 months, while 15.8% even expect it to decrease.  

Put simply, many legal teams are preparing to manage a broader remit with the same number of people, or potentially fewer. 

Internal and external hiring challenges

Recognising a resourcing gap is only the first step. Closing it is proving more difficult.  

Employers ranked  “limited budget for recruitment” as their leading hiring challenge in our survey. As a result, many are finding other solutions, the most popular being “increased use of tech/automation” (52.5%) and “interim legal support” (40.5%).  
 
Both approaches can play a valuable role. Technology may help teams handle repeatable work more efficiently, while interim professionals can provide additional support when particular skills or capacity are needed. But their growing use also illustrates the choices employers are having to make when permanent headcount cannot increase. 

Against this backdrop, recognition, value and reward was the most frequently selected factor affecting respondents’ enjoyment of their role, chosen by 36.1%. This matters because an expanding remit changes not only how much work people do, but also the level of responsibility they carry. Legal professionals want to know that this contribution is visible and appropriately recognised. 

A market in transition 

It is no doubt an exciting time for the in-house legal profession, as their influence grows and organisations discover how indispensable their voice can be across all areas of business. But a time of such rapid transition inevitably brings challenges.  

Internal operations, strategies and budgets are playing catchup with the growing remit, and until these competing elements find a balance, in-house legal teams will be stretched. 

This tension is shaping the in‑house market. Some legal leaders are thriving, but many are reaching the limits of what can be absorbed without redesigning how legal functions work.  
 
As responsibilities continue to broaden, the organisations that evolve with the role will be the ones best placed to retain senior legal talent and build functions capable of managing modern risk.

To learn more about the current state of in-house legal hiring, download our 2026 global in-house market report and salary guide.