Burnout, breadth of work top list of in-house team challenges

While Australian in-house legal professionals were not surveyed for the report, it contains pertinent findings for law departments here.

It found that the top challenges generally facing in-house teams, whose headcounts range from those with less than 10 professions to those with more than 75, were: workload and burnout, regulatory and political pressures, and risk management.

“Interestingly, legal teams with 31-75 employees suffer the highest number of challenges compared with both smaller and larger teams,” LawVu wrote.

The report listed the major challenges/barriers facing legal teams, with the following being the most commonly selected by respondents:

• Breadth, complexity and volume of work (22 per cent experiencing this);
• Workload is too high (22 per cent);
• Regulatory and political pressures (22 per cent);
• Risk management (21 per cent);
• Exhaustion and burnout (21 per cent);
• Under-resourced legal team (20 per cent);
• Inefficient workflows (20 per cent);
• Increasing concerns about a recession (19 per cent);
• Introduction of new legal technology (18 per cent);
• Lack of legal technology (18 per cent); and
• Legal technology not living up to expectations (18 per cent).

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“In-house legal is no stranger to challenge, but with the current economic climate and post-pandemic pressures, issues such as exhaustion are heightened concerns for teams,” it said.

The findings around burnout and workload also correlate with the musings of Who Gives a Crap legal beagle Kate Sherburn, who — recently on The Corporate Counsel Show — reflected on how many in-house lawyers limped to the finish line at the end of 2022 and how a realignment of workflow and priorities in line with business needs is necessary for the year ahead.