We spoke with colleagues on the ground across Australia, Asia, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom to understand the trends shaping in‑house legal resourcing in 2026. Their perspectives are based on day‑to‑day client conversations and current market activity. If you are a general counsel (GC), head of legal or legal operations leader preparing budgets and headcount plans, the insights will help you make practical choices, stay agile and demonstrate value.
Australia – top three legal resourcing trends (Nina Fotheringham)
Cost control: blending permanent, fixed-term and contract talent to manage peaks
AI enabled productivity: upskilling, governance and hiring for technology fluency
Clients are prioritizing productivity by embedding generative artificial intelligence (AI), automation and cloud tools, which shifts in-house focus away from high volume, low complexity work and prompts GCs and heads of legal to consider the redesign of their legal teams. This year I expect teams to move from proofs of concept to governed workflows, with upskilling and targeted hiring concentrated on AI fluency, process design and risk frameworks. Employers competing for top talent will need visible innovation roadmaps and stable platforms. Implication: budget for capability uplift, including licenses, governance and skills, so every role can use technology and demonstrably move the cost-to-serve curve.
Hybrid work resets: tighter onsite expectations are shrinking remote talent pools
Late 2025 brought stricter hybrid patterns – often three office days – with some energy majors and U.S. owned groups moving to four or five. Reluctance to fund relocations or offshore consultants will persist, reducing available pools and nudging remote consultants to commute or adjust rates. Smaller organizations may feel this most, particularly outside Sydney and Melbourne. Implication: align role design and pay with onsite expectations, and build local talent benches to reduce reliance on interstate or offshore coverage.
Hong Kong – top three legal resourcing trends (Felicity Warren)
Prioritizing senior expertise: funding fewer roles with deeper regulatory and cross-border capability
In 2026, I see the resourcing question shifting from ‘how many lawyers do we need?’ to ‘where do we genuinely need depth?’. Regulatory pressure, environmental, social and governance (ESG) scrutiny, data protection and complex cross-border matters are pushing demand towards senior, situational expertise. Junior leverage is harder to justify, while experienced counsel who operate independently and advise commercially create outsized value, especially in FS, capital markets and corporates navigating outbound and inbound China exposure. Implication: fund fewer, higher impact roles and align spend to clear outcomes – transaction readiness, regulatory assurance and board-level advice.
Operating model shift: a strong core augmented by on-demand senior specialists
The old binary between permanent hires and external counsel is giving way to a planned blend: a strong internal core supported by on-demand specialists for spikes, restructurings or transformation. In Hong Kong’s cyclical deal and regulatory environment, this gives agility and cost control without adding fixed cost, particularly for midcaps and regional headquarters. Implication: put flexible access to senior specialists in place and set thresholds for when to deploy them, so your team can focus on business as usual (BAU) and governance.
Greater China fluency: bilingual, cross-system capability as a premium risk reducer
Bilingual capability and Greater China familiarity have become essential rather than optional. Lawyers who work confidently across legal systems, regulators and cultures reduce friction and execution risk that external counsel alone cannot remove. This capability is scarce and increasingly priced at a premium. Implication: prioritize China-literate hires and succession plans, and budget to keep them as a core risk management asset.
Singapore – top three legal resourcing trends (Felicity Warren)
Skills-based resourcing: flexible specialist talent over fixed headcount
Rising costs and regulatory demands are pushing leaders to move beyond rigid job descriptions. In 2026 I expect more roles to be defined by the skills immediately needed – regulatory change, commercial contracting uplift or transformation delivery, rather than default headcount. This fits Singapore’s regional hub role, where multinationals and scale-ups need to flex quickly without permanent cost drag. Implication: build a skills inventory and source to defined outcomes, pairing a lean core with flexible talent for priority sprints.
Regional execution: hiring for multijurisdictional delivery across Asia Pacific
As supply chains and corporate structures evolve across Asia Pacific, the premium is on counsel who can manage multijurisdictional risk and stakeholders. Cross border fluency – competition, data, payments and sanctions, creates real leverage that panel firms cannot fully replicate, particularly in technology, life sciences and fintech. Implication: make regional agility a default hiring criterion and reward lawyers who show execution across multiple regimes.
Return on impact: selective, senior-weighted hiring tied to measurable outcomes
GCs and legal chief operating officers are asking sharper questions: ‘what risk is reduced, what external spend is displaced, what cycle time is improved?’ The result is more selective, senior-weighted hiring and fewer incremental additions, with roles that influence strategy, streamline delivery and hardwire governance. This is especially visible in private equity (PE) backed and listed groups with strict productivity metrics. Implication: tie business cases to quantified outcomes and track benefits to protect budget through 2026.
United Arab Emirates – top three legal resourcing trends (Azara Digan)
From pilots to production: investing in enablement to realize legal technology value
Pressure to improve efficiency is putting AI tools and automation on the agenda, but adoption has been slowed by legacy systems, data residency concerns and cost. In 2026 I expect more pilot-to-production moves among multinationals and regional champions, especially for contracting, knowledge search and compliance workflows. Success will depend less on tools and more on training, change adoption and governance – areas that need explicit resourcing. Implication: allocate budget for enablement and change management, not just licenses, and appoint accountable owners to embed value.
Rising regulatory load: scaling anti-money laundering, data and companies law compliance
Companies law updates, tighter anti-money laundering (AML) rules and evolving data protection will keep compliance high on the agenda, particularly for FS, payments and groups operating across free zones and onshore. Multinationals will face parallel governance tracks and more frequent audits; local family groups will need to formalize controls as they professionalize. Implication: fund additional compliance capacity and schedule regular governance reviews to stay ahead of scrutiny and reduce remediation costs.
Embedding ESG: integrating sustainability checks into contracts and projects
ESG is moving from optional to mandatory, with stricter reporting and climate risk expectations in energy, infrastructure and government related entities. Contracting, supplier oversight and project financing now require embedded ESG clauses and assurance, even where there are no dedicated specialists. Implication: build ESG checkpoints into legal processes, appoint accountable leads and bring in targeted external expertise for high-risk projects.
United Kingdom – top three legal resourcing trends (Lucy Hamblin)
AI native teams: recruiting hybrid roles and codifying AI competencies
This year, with AI moving from pilot to production across many legal teams, recruitment will actively prioritize AI literate lawyers. Job descriptions now call for prompting, workflow design, verification protocols, risk controls and data governance experience. Hybrid roles including legal product managers, legal data specialists and AI knowledge engineers, are scaling in larger organizations. Implication: organizations will embed AI competencies into capability frameworks and hiring, candidates will be asked to quantify AI enabled outcomes and governance.
Reshaping junior development: mitigating AI’s impact on early career experience
AI is taking first passes at research, document review, diligence coordination and standard drafting. Productivity rises, but traditional repetitions shrink. The risk is an uneven capability curve and a hollow middle at five to seven years’ post qualification experience, with salary pressure and tighter competition. Firms and companies need to rebuild learning pathways so junior lawyers still acquire foundational skills. Implication: protect core manual by capping AI substitution in key learning areas and use consultants for routine peaks to preserve development pathways.
Private markets momentum: building financing and portfolio governance capability at scale
Expanding private equity and private credit firms are reshaping in-house hiring and panel demands. Legal teams are building capability in financing, fund formation, restructuring and portfolio governance to standardize at scale, reduce per deal cost and tighten risk. Competition for top talent will intensify, with candidates needing both technical excellence and experience in operational standardization– playbooks, clause libraries and execution frameworks. Implication: budget ahead for specialist hiring and flexible interim capacity, and sharpen your employee value proposition to compete with private practice and over a diversified career path
Conclusion
In 2026, the teams that thrive will be clear on their priorities, thoughtful about where to build depth, and disciplined in how they flex. GCs should aim to keep resources aligned to the work that matters most and embed technology with sound governance.
It’s key to measure impact in business terms, protect time for development, and treat adaptability as a core capability. When it comes to budgets, follow demonstrable impact, not headcount, so you can protect investment and sustain performance as conditions shift.
