Bluechip companies are poised to buy in specialist legal skills over the next year according to new research which shows many UK companies are set to bolster their in-house legal teams.

A survey of 100 legal heads at FTSE 350 companies, carried out by accountants Grant Thornton, found 58% planned to increase the size of their in-house department over the next 12 months.

The desire to recruit additional lawyers was particularly strong in the construction sector, where 80% of corporate counsel said they expected to grow their teams, followed by banking and financial services, where the figure was 70%. In the insurance sector, 60% of legal heads said they wanted to add to their in-house teams, while the IT and telecoms sector looked set to be most static with just 30% of legal heads planning growth.