In-house legal teams grow by a third in 12 months

The size of the average in-house legal team across EMEA countries has increased by a third over the past year, according to research from legal recruiter Laurence Simons.  Europe, Middle East and Africa are the 3 regions that make up the broader EMEA region.

Internal legal departments now comprise 16 lawyers on average, up from 12 in 2013 and 10 in 2012. Over a quarter of departments said they have already recruited externally in 2014, and two thirds expect their team will increase further in size over next two years.

None of the 107 legal departments polled anticipated a fall in headcount by 2016.

The poll, which included departments across a range of industries including life sciences, technology, telecommunications, banking, manufacturing, engineering and retail, indicates that the expansion of in-house legal teams is being driven by rising internal budgets, with 45% of departments expecting internal spend to grow over the next year.

It also points to an increase in specific areas of specialism such as taxation, with the number of internal departments carrying out tax work doubling from 8% to 16% between 2012 and 2014.

In-house teams remain primarily focused on corporate and commercial activity though, which is now practiced by 87% of internal departments, compared with 86% in 2013.

Worldwide, the average legal department has grown in size by 57% in the past two years, increasing from 35 lawyers in 2012, to 52 in 2013 and reaching 55 this year.

—LegalWeek Report