notonthehighstreet.com GC Kate Burns

More than one in two GCs are aiming to cut their legal spend this year, according to a survey of 90 in-house lawyers at companies including Monzo, TransferWise, Npower, Pearson and notonthehighstreet.com.

The survey, conducted by legal services provider Lexoo, asked GCs and legal counsel to identify their team's top three priorities for the coming year, with 53% saying that reducing legal spend was among their main aims for 2019.

Adopting new tech tools was number one priority, selected by 63% of respondents, with more efficient outsourcing of legal work coming in third at 49%.

Kate Burns, general counsel at online marketplace notonthehighstreet.com, was one of those who picked reducing external legal spend and adopting new tech tools as her top three priorities.

She told Legal Week: "We're a marketplace and our business model is often not well understood. The regulatory environment we operate in can be quite complicated. This means we are resource constrained and have to prioritise.

"For me, a lot of last year was really about getting our head around the tech tools and what's out there. For the size of our brand, we have a small legal team – just three of us – so we're always looking for anything we can do to improve efficiency and save money."

Notonthehighstreet currently uses Taylor Wessing for corporate matters, Keystone Law for intellectual property and data protection, and Osborne Clarke for "most other things".

Burns said she was particularly interested in adopting contract management systems and data-mapping solutions – "especially with Brexit coming up".

Forty percent of respondents said that expanding their in-house team was a priority for 2019, with 43% saying they wanted to help their company expand internationally.

For Jenifer Swallow, GC at financial services provider TransferWise, these two priorities are linked.

"TransferWise is a very fast-growth company. We enter into new markets all the time and evolve product features and sign with new partners often. As the company grows internationally, and in complexity and maturity, we have to ensure the legal team are able to keep pace. We're four lawyers and two non-lawyers at the moment; I'd like to expand that to six and three by the end of the year."

Daniel van Binsbergen, founder and CEO at Lexoo, commented: "With businesses facing increasing economic and political risk, there's a huge opportunity for legal to play a more visible role and demonstrate their value.

"In-house legals are under pressure to do more with less and they recognise that new technologies and efficiency tools have an important role to play."

The survey also asked in-house counsel what their top three personal goals were for 2019. More than three quarters said developing their personal brand was a top priority, while 69% said they were aiming to get more involved in their company's strategy.

The survey canvassed the opinion of 94 in-house teams in total. Of those who responded, about 75% were GCs or heads of legal.

The full results

What are your team's priorities for 2019?

  • Adopt tech tools (eg contract management, legal spend tracker, etc) – 63%
  • Reduce external legal spend – 53%
  • Look at ways to outsource legal work more efficiently – 49%
  • Help the business expand internationally – 43%
  • Grow my in-house legal team – 40%
  • Set up a legal operations function – 22%
  • Appoint a new (or review the existing) legal panel – 18%
  • Other – 12%

What are your personal goals for 2019?

  • Develop my personal brand with internal and external stakeholders – 76%
  • Be more involved in company strategic decision-making – 69%
  • Skill up in legal tech and legal operations – 48%
  • Become a better team leader – 46%
  • Spend less time at the office – 27%
  • Be appointed to the board – 13%
  • Move into a commercial role (eg COO) – 11%
  • Other – 10%