There's no getting away from the impact that technology and a widening landscape of global privacy laws is having on legal departments—even with regards to hiring. While the COVID-19 pandemic has show that in-house teams can handle a more dispersed working environment, the biggest change to corporate legal hiring may not be relegated to where new hires are setting up their home office. Privacy has emerged as an immediate need that many general counsel and in-house leaders are looking to handle as thoroughly—and cost-efficiently—as possible. Contract workers have emerged as a viable alternative to expensive outside counsel bills for privacy work. Meanwhile, other hires geared toward driving innovation and technology may have to wait until some of the more tech- or change-resistant personnel retire. The upside is this could give GCs time to figure out exactly the kind of legal department they want to build. Above, we look at four ways that technology and privacy are impacting in-house hiring in 2021.