Corporate Legal Spend as Share of Revenue Falls to Six-Year Low
The 2026 ACC Law Department Management Benchmarking Report found median global corporate legal spend as a percentage of revenue dropped to 0.43% from 0.53% — the lowest in six years. At the same time, each in-house lawyer now supports a median of 367 employees (up from 300 in 2021), and the ratio of lawyers per $1 billion in revenue fell to 3.0 from 3.6–4.2 over the prior five years. Outside couns
BY FRONTIER DESK · JUNE 29, 2026 · 1 MIN READ
The 2026 ACC Law Department Management Benchmarking Report found median global corporate legal spend as a percentage of revenue dropped to 0.43% from 0.53% — the lowest in six years. At the same time, each in-house lawyer now supports a median of 367 employees (up from 300 in 2021), and the ratio of lawyers per $1 billion in revenue fell to 3.0 from 3.6–4.2 over the prior five years. Outside counsel spend did tick up slightly, rising to 47% of total legal spend from 45%. The message for law firms is stark: in-house teams are absorbing more volume with fewer resources, and the efficiency bar for outside counsel is rising in tandem.