It's the report card your legal department didn’t ask for, but might learn something from: the Association of Corporate Counsel and Everlaw have released a 2023 State of Collaboration Report. Armed with surveys from 373 in-house legal professionals in the US, this report dives deep into the intricacies of corporate legal teamwork – or lack thereof. With the bold claim of being trusted by Fortune 100 corporate counsel, 91 of the Am Law 200, and all 50 state attorneys general, this report gives in-house collaboration a grade that might need a bit of extra credit – or a guide on how to play nicely with others.

The report indicates that approximately two-thirds of legal departments are bringing more work in-house as a cost reduction strategy, which is a 59% increase from last year. Regarding satisfaction with law firms, in-house teams expressed contentment with aspects like quality and responsiveness of communication, collaboration on key strategy, understanding of company objectives, and project management.‍

THE REPORT: NOBODY'S ON THE SAME PAGE.

However, less than half reported being satisfied with transparency of processes and cost predictability. The report also reflected a desire for increased collaboration among legal staff, recognizing the associated benefits and obstacles preventing legal teams from fully realizing their collaboration potential. In fact, internal partners were asked about their opinions of in-house legal departments, and they mentioned the following critiques:

The crux of the issue: in-house lawyers are “viewed as roadblocks” by their non-legal peers, leading to their exclusion from executive tables, strategic initiatives, and important decisions. Hurtful? Sure. A step toward figuring out how to work together better? Probably.

As in-house attorneys are blocked from sitting at the cool kids table, law firms were also perceived as lacking transparency, and other partners and vendors were criticized for not understanding company objectives. However, building strong relationships has been recognized as a key to success for legal departments.

THE VERDICT:

In the Report, legal teams expressed their desire for standardized collaboration processes and integrated collaboration tools to facilitate improved external collaboration. In facts, the respondents believed that increased collaboration would result in enhanced operational efficiency (32%) and more focus on risk management and business issues (27%). It seems that in-house lawyers’ goals and reasonings aren’t always understood, and heightened efforts to communicate would make collaboration more frequent and helpful.