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How in-house lawyers can keep up with legal change

• 50% of in-house lawyers say keeping up with the law is one of their top challenges in 2025 (������Ƶ In-house Legal Technology Report)

• Tech budgets are rising: 51% expect an increase, signalling a shift from growing teams to growing capabilities

• Creative alignment, stakeholder visibility, and workflow automation are key tools for staying ahead

• Join peer networks, set up legal alerts, and use AI to streamline research and document review

• Don’t wait for permission to innovate — lead transformation by tying legal to business strategy

Last updated: May 2025

Keeping up with changes to the law is one of the biggest challenges facing in-house legal teams today. This blog explores how corporate counsel can use technology, peer networks, and smarter workflows to stay informed and stay strategic.

In-house legal teams are under pressure. With leaner teams, shifting stakeholder expectations and fast-moving regulatory change, staying current with the law has become a core challenge. In our latest In-house Legal Technology Report 2025, 50% of in-house counsel cited keeping up to date with the law as one of their top challenges for the next 12 months.

The legal function can no longer afford to simply react to change. It must anticipate it. Here are five ways corporate legal teams are staying ahead of legal developments — and leading change from the front.

1. Subscribe to trusted legal update sources

Start with proactive updates. Don’t rely on inbox chatter to learn what’s changed. Set up legal alerts tailored to your jurisdiction, practice area or industry.

Try:

• ������Ƶ legal update alerts

•  for video interviews, community content and insights

• for UK in-house counsel news

• for innovation, regulation and in-house developments

• for global general counsel insights

Block out 10 minutes each week to scan updates and flag what your team needs to know.

2. Make tech budgets count

Legal teams are growing smarter, not bigger. While only 23% of in-house counsel expect their teams to grow, 51% anticipate increases in technology spend. That means the focus is shifting from headcount to capability.

Teams like those at GWI, Algolia and Palantir are using AI tools to:

• Automate legal FAQs in Slack

• Speed up contract reviews

• Generate strategic solutions, not just shortcuts

Whether it’s AI-assisted drafting or retrieval-augmented generation linked to internal systems, legal teams are becoming technologists as much as they are risk managers. And that tech fluency makes staying up to date with legal change faster, more collaborative and less manual.

3. Streamline your legal workflow

Since 2023, the number of in-house lawyers who say they spend too much time reviewing documents has dropped from 38% to 21%. Why? Smarter workflows.

AI tools can now handle first-draft reviews, flag anomalies, and integrate with your document management system (DMS). Instead of relying on memory or manual checklists, legal teams can now:

• Pre-screen contracts

• Auto-format and sense-check

• Use generative tools to reduce drafting time

Explore tools like Lexis Create+ or experiment with AI-powered assistants to boost productivity.

4. Build stronger peer and business connections

Only 39% of in-house counsel say cross-departmental communication is effective, down from 54% in 2023. Connection matters.

Try:

• Setting up a “legal front door” via Slack or Teams

• Attending roadmap or go-to-market meetings

• Using channels like , , or to share insights and benchmark challenges

GCs like Cheryl Gale at Yoto recommend being solution-focused: saying “not yet” rather than “no”, and being embedded early in conversations about products, deals or risk.

5. Focus on creative, strategic risk advice

Yes, risk management is still core. But the new value-add is translating legal risk into strategic action.

That means:

• Having SMEs in your team who can test and vet legal tech

• Understanding how tools treat confidential data

• Spotting regulatory changes before they impact operations

Tools and platforms should be tested with legal-specific criteria. The value lies in solving real business problems, not just in the tech itself.

6. Train the next wave of legal technologists

Staying current isn’t just for senior lawyers. Junior team members are now the first reviewers of AI-generated drafts. They need:

• Prompt engineering skills

• Legal research agility

• An understanding of how to coach the tech, not just use it

Encourage juniors to join communities like the , , or for exposure to trends and tools.

FAQ: Staying current with the law

Q: What’s the best way for in-house lawyers to stay up to date with legal change?
A: Subscribe to reliable legal alerts, join peer networks like , and use AI-powered tools to reduce time spent on low-value tasks.

Q: Which tools can help monitor legal and regulatory updates?
A: Try ������Ƶ legal alerts, , or for curated in-house insights.

Q: Why is tech adoption important for staying current?
A: With lean teams and rising demand, automation and AI give legal teams more time for strategic work and legal change interpretation.

Final word: Be the driver, not the passenger

As one GC put it, legal teams today are being called to lead transformation, not just track it. That means making space for innovation, getting visible across the business, and empowering your team to think creatively about risk, change and opportunity.

50% of in-house lawyers say keeping up to date with the law is a top challenge. But it doesn’t have to be. With the right tools, networks and mindset, in-house teams can adapt, advise and lead from the front.

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