Even chief legal officers and general counsel who plan on hiring more in-house attorneys anticipate a significant amount of work will go to law firms because of the complex regulatory landscape, according to the Association of Corporate Counsel's 2020 Chief Legal Officers Survey published on Tuesday.

"In general, it is becoming a much more complex world," Susanna McDonald, the ACC's chief legal officer, said in an interview. "As the CLO of an organization, public or private, you are going to have to make strategic decisions based on the current challenges as well as your current mix of talent."

Of all the general counsel and chief legal officers who plan on hiring more in-house attorneys, approximately 44% expect to increase the amount of work they send to law firms. Thirty-three percent of general counsel and chief legal officers at private companies plan on increasing the amount of work they send to outside counsel.

Increasing regulation appears to be the reason more menial work is sent to law firms, so in-house counsel can work on more complicated tasks. Sixty-two percent of respondents expect the regulation relevant to their industry to increase in the next year. According to the report, 58% of respondents said their departments' expenditures increased because of regulatory compliance.

Speaking from experience, McDonald said that when she had to hire a deputy general counsel, she looked at the talent she already had in the legal department and put it up against the challenges the ACC faced in the future. She said at the time those challenges included complex regulatory demands surrounding cyber management and data security.

"I made sure I hired someone with a lot of experience in those areas," McDonald said. "That both helped reduce outsourcing and also freed up some dollars to spend on outsourcing when needed."

Regulation is becoming a more and more complex issue throughout all industries, McDonald said. One regulatory category affecting legal leaders across industries is cybersecurity and data privacy, especially with laws such as the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act.

McDonald said board members are increasingly asking chief legal officers and general counsel about cybersecurity.

"That crosses industry. Everyone has a customer and all of that data has to be protected," McDonald said. "Everyone has employees, and all of that data has to be protected."

The data in the report is based on responses from 1,007 chief legal officers and general counsel spanning 20 industries and 47 countries.