Driving business value from your legal panel
We understand that your business environment moves quickly. Initiatives around ESG, AI, data analytics, and digital transformation are reshaping industries, and you’re now expected to do more than just manage legal risk.
As a general counsel or in-house legal leader, your role is increasingly strategic. You help steer your organisation through geopolitical uncertainty, regulatory shifts, and economic headwinds while delivering commercial value.
To meet these demands, you need legal partners who bring more than just technical expertise. You need law firms with deep sector knowledge, scalable resources, and the creativity to help you seize opportunities and mitigate risks. That’s where a well-structured legal panel becomes a powerful asset.
Why legal panels matter, but need rethinking
Legal panels offer your organisation a ready-made network of trusted advisers. But the traditional model (large, static rosters) no longer fits the pace or complexity of modern business, and you’re likely to be already feeling the pressure to optimise your legal panel for agility, efficiency, and value.
Recent research we commissioned with Chorus Insight, featured in The Lawyer, looking into how GCs are using their panels today. The study, which included 121 organisations and 14 deep-dive interviews with legal leaders across industries, revealed that 65% of organisations with formal legal panels had reduced their panel size during their most recent review. The average panel now includes just eight firms, though some range from as few as two to as many as 69. Most panels are set for three years, but in practice, they often run for 4.5 years or more.
How smaller legal panels are creating stronger partnerships
Reducing the number of law firms on your panel can simplify management, cut costs, and foster deeper relationships. With fewer firms, you can invest more time in building trust and alignment, turning external advisers into true strategic partners and an extension of your business.
But you must strike the right balance. Larger firms may offer a breadth of services, but not always consistency across specialisms. Smaller panels risk gaps in expertise if not carefully considered. The key for general counsels is finding legal firms that are “big enough to cope, but small enough to care”, those that combine scale with a commitment to providing you with a personalised service.
What to look for when creating or reviewing your legal panel
When reviewing or creating a legal panel, consider:
- Breadth of expertise: Do the firms in your panel cover the full range of legal needs, including emerging areas like ESG and AI?
- Cultural fit: Are they aligned with your values and ways of working?
- Scalability: Can they flex resources as your needs evolve?
- Relationship depth: Will the lead partner invest time to truly understand your business?
You need confidence that your panel of legal firms can move at your pace, understand and adapt to your challenges, whilst delivering advice that’s not just legal, but also commercially smart.
Tailoring your legal panel to your business
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. As Huma Allana van Reesch, GC EMEA at The Starbucks Coffee Company, shared: “Initially, I believed that building relationships with many firms was important as a generalist. However, over time, I realised that to secure the best rates, maximise savings, and add real value, it’s more effective to strategically partner with a small group of law firms that invest in understanding your business and help deliver results.”
“This approach benefits both sides, it makes good business sense and creates smart operating models. Otherwise, it’s like picking up the phone to a call centre.”
This kind of strategic alignment turns your legal panel from a safety net into a competitive advantage.
The market is moving – but are you?
Panel consolidation is no longer a trend; it’s the new normal. The legal services market is shifting, and general counsels who embrace this change are already seeing the benefits, including faster decision-making, more creative problem-solving, and stronger alignment with business goals.
If you’re thinking about creating or optimising your legal panel, now is the time to act. With the right structure and partners, your legal panel can become a true driver of business value.
“Initially, I believed that building relationships with many firms was important as a generalist. However, over time, I realised that to secure the best rates, maximise savings, and add real value, it’s more effective to strategically partner with a small group of law firms that invest in understanding your business and help deliver results.”