A new report published by the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) has shown rising work-related stress levels across corporate legal departments, with the heaviest burden falling on legal leaders and those working in high-demand sectors.
“Today’s legal departments operate at the intersection of business risk, strategy, and compliance,” said Jason L. Brown, ACC president and chief executive officer, in a media release.
“When stress levels become unsustainable, the ripple effects extend well beyond the legal team — affecting the quality and speed of business decisions, increasing operational and compliance risks, weakening collaboration, and ultimately undermining the organization’s ability to retain critical talent,” Brown added.
According to ACC’s report titled “The State of Stress Among In-house Legal Professionals,” among the more than 1,600 US-based in-house lawyers and legal operations professionals surveyed:
- One in five rated their work-related stress as ‘high’ or ‘severe’
- 66 percent rated their workplace stress as moderate to severe
- Of legal leaders, over a quarter of chief legal officers, associate general counsel, and other senior roles reported high stress, representing the highest stress levels
- Among legal operations leaders, 22 percent of vice presidents and directors of legal operations reported elevated stress levels, reflecting the rising complexity and increasing strategic demands imposed on operational management functions
- Of individual contributors, 12 percent of attorneys and others in non-management roles reported high stress, representing the lowest levels of high stress and indicating that pressure might go down the further one is from leadership responsibilities
- Among employees rating their stress as high, 24 percent expressed intentions to leave their jobs within the next year, suggesting that stress raises attrition risk and threatens talent retention
- Those working over 55 hours weekly were five times more likely to report high stress levels than those working under 45 hours weekly, revealing that longer hours directly impacted work-life balance and raised stress
“These findings underscore the growing intensity of the in-house legal function and highlight the urgent need for organizations to address workload, resourcing, and structural demands affecting their legal teams,” Brown said.
Report’s background
In its media release, ACC explained that its new report reflected data and analyzed responses from the 2025 law department compensation survey, which asked respondents to score their work-related stress using a five-point scale.
“At ACC, we deeply value the candid insights our members share,” Brown said. “Their feedback is essential to helping us identify emerging pressures and deliver the resources, guidance, and solutions that today’s in-house legal and legal operations professionals need to thrive.”
ACC is a global legal association that aims to voice the common professional and business interests of in-house counsel employed at corporations, associations, and other organizations. It has almost 50,000 members working in more than 12,000 organizations across over 100 countries.