2023 ACC Benchmarking Survey

For the fourth year in a row, Major, Lindsey & Africa partnered with the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) to conduct the 2023 Law Department Management Benchmarking Survey. The survey had responses from 449 legal departments in organizations spanning 24 industries and 20 countries. The report provides a wealth of data for peer comparisons and benchmarking across a variety of metrics to assess performance, results and efficiency. 

The report looks at legal department staffing and structure, work allocation, law firm and ALSPs usage, spending, and diversity metrics. Some of the findings show:

• Total legal spend for all companies increased from $2.4 million last year to $3.1 million this year, with the largest increases driven by companies with greater than $20 billion in revenue. 
• After a six-point increase since 2022, privacy was ranked the most common business function directly overseen by legal at 57 percent of respondents, overtaking compliance which traditionally tops the list (56 percent).
• Approximately three in 10 legal departments reported that they track internal diversity metrics related to the legal department’s composition and 21 percent report tracking diversity metrics with respect to their outside counsel.
• On average, 73 percent of inside spending is allocated to lawyer compensation, 18 percent to non-lawyer compensation and nine percent is allocated to other types of in-house spending.