SURVEY FINDS IN-HOUSE LAWYERS TAKING ON MORE WORK AND MORE STRESS

New research urges organizational legal leaders to prioritize employee wellbeing

TORONTO, Jan. 24, 2023 /CNW/ - The Canadian Corporate Counsel Association (CCCA), the leader and voice for Canadian in-house counsel, and Mondaq, a leading global provider of AI-enabled content marketing, analytics and data solutions for professional services firms, conducted an expansive survey of Canadian in-house counsel lawyers in late 2022. Designed in partnership with an advisory board of eminent in-house counsel from across Canada, the survey provides up-to-date insights into current hot button issues and future outlooks for the Canadian in-house counsel profession.

Based on over 670 responses, it is evident that Canadian in-house counsel continue to take on more business responsibility and receive more demand for their services, leading to continued employee wellbeing challenges:

Canadian in-house counsel continue to take on more business responsibility, increasing work-related stress and anxiety.

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• The aftermath of Covid-19 continues to present challenges to Canadian in-house legal departments, most notably in terms of new working arrangements, with 87% of legal departments working on a hybrid basis and 27% of these not mandating staff to spend any time in the office.
• 46% of in-house counsel have seen an increase in their work-related stress and anxiety levels in the last year (with just 13% seeing a decline).
• Increased levels of in-house accountability, with the majority taking on additional responsibilities, including compliance (45%), ethics (27%), investigations (25%), government relations (20%) and ESG (11%).
• Heightened demand for in-house legal services, with 50% of participants expecting an increase in demand for data privacy, 50% for risk and compliance, and 44% for contract management.

There is a clear call to action for legal department leaders and managers to put in place more programs that support employee wellbeing.

ABOUT THE CCCA 

The CCCA is the leader and voice for Canadian in-house counsel. Founded in 1988 as a forum of the Canadian Bar Association, it represents over 5,000 in-house counsel from every province and territory, and sector and industry, making it the most inclusive and representative professional association for in-house counsel in Canada. For more information, visit www.ccca-accje.org.

ABOUT MONDAQ 

Mondaq is a leading global provider of AI-enabled content marketing, analytics and data solutions for professional services firms, helping its over 20 million readers worldwide find answers to legal, tax and compliance questions. Mondaq has over 2 million readers in Canada, including the majority of Canadian in-house counsel and executives from thousands of Canadian organizations. For more information, visit www.mondaq.com.

SOURCE Canadian Corporate Counsel Association

Lynne Yryku, [email protected]