In-House Legal Teams Using ALSPs Cut Attrition Risk in Half, New Global Study Reveals

Despite high job satisfaction, nearly half of in-house legal professionals are job hunting due to unsustainable workloads and fear of displacement by AI

NEW YORK—December 18, 2025—Nearly 50% of in-house legal professionals are either actively or passively seeking new jobs due to mounting workload pressure, creating a hidden talent crisis that threatens institutional knowledge and departmental effectiveness. Yet, departments that partner with alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) have found a solution: in-house teams that utilize ALSPs cut their attrition risk among active job seekers in half, with only 14% of in-house lawyers on these teams actively job hunting, compared to 28% in teams without ALSP support.

Moreover, when asked which resource solutions were the most effective for managing workload challenges, half of the respondents cited ALSPs as the most effective solution, outperforming traditional law firms, hiring full-time staff, and staffing agencies.

These findings and more are shared in Axiom’s 2026 Global In-House Talent Report: The Hidden Legal Talent Crisis, a global study of 544 in-house legal professionals across eight countries conducted by InsightDynamo and commissioned by Axiom.

The research takes the pulse of senior leadership (53%) and staff (47%)—including CLOs, GCs, DGCs, AGCs, and legal ops leaders—to examine the work environment, retention challenges, workload pressures, and concerns about AI in organizations with annual revenues of $100 million or more, with 40% exceeding $1 billion and 19% exceeding $5 billion in revenue.

In-house legal professionals experiencing high pressure are ten times more likely to be actively job searching than those under low pressure. The pressure stems from a perfect storm of challenges facing legal teams as they head into 2026: 

• Satisfaction paradox: 46% are job hunting despite 83% reporting high satisfaction—stress, not dissatisfaction, is driving attrition
• Capacity crisis: 78% face increased workloads, while 97% struggle to build multidisciplinary teams, and 80% report difficulty hiring quality attorneys
• AI anxiety: 76% express anxiety about AI-driven job displacement, even as 93% report productivity gains from AI tools
• ALSP advantage: In-house teams using ALSPs cut attrition risk in half: only 14% actively job hunt vs. 28% of non-users, with dramatically lower stress rates (34% vs. 59%)

Notably, only a third of departments describe themselves as understaffed. The real problem isn't headcount; it's having the wrong mix of talent for today's demands. Teams are staffed, but not with the flexibility, specialization, or bandwidth needed to handle what's actually coming through the door.

“Satisfaction surveys miss what's really driving in-house attrition,” said Sara Morgan, Chief Revenue Officer at Axiom. “It's not about job satisfaction. It's about unsustainable, high-pressure workloads and demands. Legal teams that partner with ALSPs aren't just managing capacity more efficiently and effectively. They're cutting flight risk by giving their teams the breathing room and specialized legal support they need to do their best and most satisfying work. When you take your team out of the pressure cooker and innovate with AI-empowered lawyers from an ALSP, you create an environment where talented in-house lawyers thrive and want to stay.”

The 2026 Global In-House Talent Report: The Hidden Legal Talent Crisis is available at https://www.axiomlaw.com/resources/articles/in-house-counsel-survey-report

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About Axiom

Axiom invented the alternative legal services industry 25 years ago and now serves more than 3,500 legal departments globally, including 75% of the Fortune 100, who place their trust in Axiom, with 95% client satisfaction. Axiom gives small, mid-market, and enterprise clients a single trusted provider who can deliver a full spectrum of legal solutions and services across more than a dozen practice areas and all major industries at rates up to 50% less than national law firms. To learn how Axiom can help your legal departments do more for less, visit axiomlaw.com.