A new global CIO survey finds board pressure on AI ROI has reached near-universal levels, with legal and compliance teams facing heightened scrutiny over AI governance and spend.
Partner billing rates at the 50 largest US law firms rose 16% last year, with some partners now commanding $4,000+ per hour. The data is forcing corporate legal departments to rethink outside counsel strategy.
Thomson Reuters' CoCounsel AI platform has crossed the one million user threshold, reflecting a broader and accelerating shift in how legal, tax and compliance professionals work — though the company's own CTO says the product is not yet where it needs to be.
A Manhattan judge's decision in United States v. Heppner delivers a clear warning to corporate legal teams: using public AI tools like Claude or ChatGPT for legal queries is not protected by attorney-client privilege or work product doctrine.
The Supreme Court ruled that IEEPA does not authorize sweeping global tariffs, opening potential refund pathways and prompting urgent review for corporate importers.
Intapp will develop legal-specific AI agents powered by Anthropic’s Claude, targeting compliance-sensitive workflows such as conflicts and ethical walls.
Legal operations professionals are focusing on data transparency, practical AI integration and role evolution as the function becomes more central to corporate legal strategy in 2026.
The latest U.S. employment report shows continued job growth in legal services, even as broader labor market gains were revised downward, underscoring the sector’s resilience.
US law firms used complex multinational partnership structures to limit the impact of UK tax reforms, underscoring enforcement challenges in cross border professional services taxation.
Survey data indicate that a majority of corporate legal departments plan to shift significant work away from traditional law firms to in-house teams or alternative legal service providers as cost, satisfaction and technology pressures grow.
As artificial intelligence reshapes workflows and expectations, legal operations professionals must continuously evolve processes, skills and education to remain effective rather than rely on static training.
