Legal departments have seen an increase in workloads, but they haven't received budget increases that keep pace, according to lawyers surveyed for the Thomson Reuters Institute's latest report.

The survey found 65% of departments say the volume of legal work has increased over the last year, but only 30% of legal teams are satisfied with budgets, according to the institute's 2022 Legal Department Operations Index.

"This is, perhaps, an understandable reaction given the number of legal departments that report a growing volume of work and an increase in the number of matters being handled in-house—all without any increase in departments' budgets," the report reads.