---

After the passing of 2020, many legal professionals have imagined what will happen in 2021

A survey conducted by the Association of Corporate Counsel has found that this year will see more hiring in corporate legal departments than last year (up 30%). 

It is also expected that there will be more workload. Forty-nine percent of heads of legal departments believe that the amount of work will increase, which could be a good sign for the legal sector.

The 2021 Chief Legal Officers Survey (as the survey is called) summarises some facts to consider:

- Employment will increase: a third of legal departments plan to hire lawyers, 20% of departments plan to employ paralegals and 12.7% plan to add paralegals to their team.

expect to add legal operations professionals to their team.

- 53.6% of heads of legal departments say that data protection regulations will be one of their biggest challenges in 2021.

- Many heads of legal departments will be more concerned about environmental, social and corporate governance, an issue that has gained prominence in many firms in recent years.

This survey was conducted between 1 October 2020 and 29 November 2020. Nearly 950 heads of legal departments participated in the survey.