The report, titled ‘Future Trends for Legal Services’, identifies the growing popularity of non-traditional legal service providers among in-house counsel as a key emerging trend for the industry. The survey underpinning the report found that 55 per cent of in-house counsel either have or are considering undertaking a significant review of their legal suppliers, while 52 per cent said they would be willing to purchase services from a non-traditional provider which offers a broad range of professional services.

A wider perspective

‘[Deloitte’s] clients are looking for broader solutions which go well beyond legal,’ commented Deloitte global leader for tax and legal Dan Lange. ‘Their issues are multi-dimensional and require advisors who deeply understand business dynamics and the impact legal decisions have on other areas of the business, particularly if they have global operations.

Other key findings

Among the other key findings from Deloitte’s survey were the growing awareness of technology within the in-house sphere and the growth of spending on regulatory compliance. Nearly half of survey respondents said that their department’s spending on regulatory issues was increasing, while 26 per cent said the global compliance was the biggest legal challenge facing their company. While 77 per cent of respondents said that technology had not yet replaced the tasks of in-house lawyers, 52 per cent said that they expected this to happen in the next five years.