Despite budget increases, nearly half (47 per cent) of global GCs reported that their departments remain insufficiently resourced. They noted better value (37 per cent), specialised expertise (35 per cent), cost efficiency (35 per cent), practical advice (32 per cent), and rapid deployment (32 per cent) as headline priorities moving forward.

Significantly, more than four in five (83 per cent) of 500 GCs surveyed globally reported that they are currently investing for uncertainty.

Axiom managing director and Australia head Jacob Flax said, at the time of the report’s release, that compared to their global counterparts, Australian GCs are more focused on strategic business imperatives when navigating uncertainty.

“While, globally, most legal leaders share a common approach to investing for uncertainty, Australian legal leaders are prioritising the business impact of these investments rather than just efficiency and cost savings,” he told Lawyers Weekly.

“They’re creating more agile resource models that bring specialised expertise right where and when it’s needed. It’s a practical, business-aligned approach that reflects how Australian in-house teams are confidently adapting to global uncertainty on their own terms.”

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In conversation with Lawyers Weekly, Harrison.ai GC and company secretary Jennifer Mulheron (pictured) reflected that, against the current backdrop of market volatility, legal teams like her own are “under immense pressure” to continue to deliver excellence “with flat or reduced budgets”.

This, she explained, presents an interesting challenge “to ruthlessly prioritise and explore creative solutions to reduce the workload”.

“Legal teams can identify and seek alignment with stakeholders on what work must be done relative to work that would be ‘nice’ to be done, and work that should no longer be done (such as enabling and enforcing greater self-service may eliminate entire categories of work),” she said.

“Legal teams can also invest in technology-enabled solutions to drive efficiencies (for example, document automation; AI-enabled research tools).”

“Resourcefulness, rather than increasing resources, will be a key theme.”