According to Axiom’s fourth annual general counsel survey report, Investing For Uncertainty: How GCs Are Building Resilient Legal Departments in 2025, the three top priorities for their legal departments this year are strategic resource optimisation, legal operations development and legal tech implementation – including AI integration, workflow automation, and data analytics.

The report surveyed 500 general counsel, deputy general counsel, and chief legal officers across the US, Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions and found that across the world, 83 per cent of respondents reported budget increases, with a 10 per cent increase on average.

According to the report, while AI now influences four in 10 (38 per cent) legal decisions across surveyed teams, 70 per cent of GCs acknowledged their teams lack sufficient AI training. Moreover, only 30 per cent said they believed their organisation’s AI training met “actual needs”.

“Legal teams might think they are addressing this gap, as 76 per cent reported they have AI policies in place covering authorised tools, specific use cases, and data privacy considerations. But crafting policy alone is not enough,” the report states.

“There is an acute need for both comprehensive training and change management to help GCs and legal ops leaders unlock the full potential of AI and other legal tech while mitigating their risk.”

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Australian GCs in particular, according to the report, take a unique approach to measuring AI success, with 48 per cent prioritising “business impact” as their primary metric, while most other regions focus first on efficiency and cost savings.

Like their global peers, Australian GCs emphasise administrative efficiency (38 per cent) and practical advice (38 per cent), but place greater emphasis on flexible talent models, something Axiom CEO David McVeigh said was a strategic play to be more organised and resilient in challenging market conditions.

“As legal leaders look ahead at the rest of the year, they see policy, economic, and business instability unlike any time in recent history. Add to that the truly disruptive nature of AI, with its complex mix of risks and rewards – and an industry-wide shortage of specialised AI legal talent and operational experience – and the pressure to make fast, smart decisions is greater than ever,” McVeigh said.

“The research shows industry leaders weighed these factors and landed on a clear set of strategies to maximise organisational resilience.”