Extract from Exterro’s article “Legal Departments’ Scope Is Expanding According to Survey of Chief Legal Officers”
For the 25th consecutive year, the Association of Corporate Counsel has conducted its survey of the highest-ranking legal officers in major US and international enterprises, publishing the results (in partnership with Exterro) in the 2024 ACC Chief Legal Officers Survey. This year the survey polled over 600 CLOs and general counsel representing companies in 20 industries and 31 countries.
And what’s the biggest takeaway that we see? CLOs and enterprise legal teams are responsible for more areas than ever–and they’re demanding more attention from legal professionals.
The majority of CLOs oversee at least three additional business functions beyond legal.
Fifty-eight percent of CLOs oversee three or more additional business functions beyond legal and 27 percent oversee five or more. These most commonly include areas such as privacy (44 percent), ethics (43 percent), and risk (38 percent), but also can include areas such as environmental, social, & governance (ESG) (24 percent), government affairs (22 percent), cybersecurity (14 percent), and human resources (14 percent).
And this isn’t just functional oversight. These areas are major priorities for these organizations, and consequently for CLOs and their teams.
