Remaking News of the Week: Tipping point reached in legal departments are spending

Today’s Remaking News of the Week: Tipping point reached in legal departments spending reports a milestone in Altman Weil’s long-running (at least for legal services) time series on corporate law department  spending.

Altman Weil’s 2018 Chief Legal Officer Survey of corporate legal departments spending shows for the first time more went on internal expenditures than on outside counsel. Specifically, 48% to in-house spend, 45% outside. The rest, 6%, went to ‘non-law’ firm vendors.

Why note this?

The tipping point (if this is what it proves to be) suggests pressure on legal departments to cut costs, including saving the profit margin of BigLaw firms, is continuing.

The Altman Weil’s 2018 Chief Legal Officer Survey is worth (re)reading.