Accelerating change: barriers in-house leaders must overcome to be successful innovators

In this first paper from the series that makes up The A&O Legal Innovation Benchmarking Report, we examine the factors that drive and inhibit change within the in-house legal function.

Highlights from the paper:

• Among survey respondents, 53% say two of their main innovation motivations are to access better data to drive decisions and reporting and to improve the quality of service provided to business colleagues.
• This is ahead of the 33% who cite cost reduction as among their top three drivers of change.
• Among barriers to change highlighted by leaders, lack of lawyer capacity is the leading inhibitor, cited by 61%.
• Other ‘people’ issues (resistance to change and lack of specialist innovation skills) were cited by just under half of respondents. 
• The most mature legal functions consider lack of funding to be the main barrier to change. 

The A&O Legal Innovation Benchmarking Report explores the realities of innovation and change within in-house legal functions today. The insight in our series was developed through in-depth benchmarking surveys completed by 92 senior leaders of in-house functions immediately prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

We have grouped the findings of our research into five short papers, each of which deals with an important aspect of innovation and change. You can download Accelerating change below. Alternatively, you can download the full report immediately by completing a short registration form.