7 Key Challenges For In-House Legal Teams in 2025

1. Managing AI Usage And Compliance Across Departments

Your business teams are probably already using artificial intelligence (AI), whether it’s for writing, hiring, or data analysis. And odds are, legal wasn’t looped in early. That’s a problem. 

Without clear guidelines, these tools open the door to legal, privacy, and compliance risks that can come back to bite you.

The legal function is now expected to step in, not just to say “yes” or “no” to AI tools, but to help shape how the company uses them responsibly. And that’s not a small ask.

According to Gartner, by 2026, 80% of large enterprises will have formal AI governance policies in place to manage risk and assign accountability. That includes legal teams like yours.

Here’s what many in-house legal professionals are already tackling:

• Reviewing generative AI tools for IP, bias, and privacy risks
• Writing AI usage policies for internal teams
• Monitoring changing laws like the EU AI Act and CPRA
• Tracking approvals and tool usage through legal tech software

If legal operations aren’t yet involved in AI oversight at your company, now’s the time to speak up. The longer departments run AI tools without legal guardrails, the harder it becomes to manage the fallout and explain it later.

2. Handling Increased Data Privacy Demands

Data privacy is no longer just an IT issue. It now sits squarely on the shoulders of in-house counsel. With regulations like the CPRA, GDPR, and a growing list of state-level laws in the U.S., the legal landscape around cybersecurity and data privacy is more complicated than ever.

Companies are now expected to know exactly what data they collect, why they collect it, how they store it, and who they share it with. And when something goes wrong, legal is often the first team called in to explain what happened.

For in-house counsel, the pressure is real. It goes beyond ticking boxes for regulatory compliance. You’re advising leadership on several landmark business decisions, like whether to launch in a new market or partner with a data-heavy vendor.

At the same time, you’re also staying on top of breach reporting timelines, cookie consent rules, and cross-border data transfers. One misstep could mean a fine or serious damage to the company’s reputation.

Take Meta’s 2023 fine in Europe for violating GDPR rules on data transfers. That case reminded industry professionals just how quickly privacy enforcement can escalate.

For many legal teams, meeting these new standards with limited resources and outdated systems is one of the most significant challenges they face today.

3. Legal KPI Tracking With Limited Resources

General counsel are expected to act as a strategic business partner, not just a legal gatekeeper. But that’s hard to do without solid data.

Tracking and reporting on legal KPIs, like contract turnaround time, matter resolution rates, or legal spend, is how legal teams show value. The problem? Most in-house lawyers don’t have the tools, systems, or staff to do it well.

Manual tracking creates gaps. Junior lawyers are pulled into reporting work they weren’t trained for. And leadership ends up with limited insight into what the legal team is actually achieving.

This disconnect can cause friction with other departments, especially sales teams, who want proof that legal isn’t slowing down deals. Without reliable data, it’s tough to push back or show your impact on business objectives.

If you’re short on ops resources, you can still make progress by:

• Starting small with a few meaningful KPIs tied to business goals
• Using contract platforms or shared tools to gather basic metrics
• Collaborating with finance or operations to support reporting

In the legal industry, showing results matters. Even basic tracking can help legal services align with the business and lead to more positive outcomes across the board.

4. Managing Legal Spend Amid Rising Workloads

In-house legal teams are dealing with a tough combination: rising workloads and tighter budgets. According to the 2023 Legal Department Operations Index, 70% of legal departments said their work volume increased, while nearly two-thirds said their budgets stayed the same or went down.

That puts a lot of pressure on legal counsel to do more without more support. One way teams are handling this is by using alternative fee arrangements (AFAs) with outside firms. These help you plan your legal spend better and can lead to real cost savings.

Another smart move? Workflow automation. Legal tech tools can handle contract creation, document review, and other repetitive work. When used right, these tools can save time and let your team focus on bigger issues. It can also help lower your law firm’s operating expenses.

Still, it’s not all smooth sailing. That same report showed only 32% of departments got more budget for legal tech, even though more teams are using it.

To make real progress under budget constraints, focus on tools and processes that give you the most operational efficiency. Look for low-lift improvements that make a big difference.

You don’t need to fix everything at once, but choosing smart, targeted upgrades can help your team keep up and deliver real results.

5. Fragmented Legal Data Across Tools, Teams, and Regions

When legal data is scattered across different platforms, departments, and offices, it becomes hard to manage and even harder to trust. Many legal teams still use a mix of shared drives, emails, spreadsheets, and legacy systems.

Without one central repository, it’s difficult to get a full view of legal matters, contracts, and compliance documents. This kind of fragmentation slows down legal processes, increases risk, and makes strategic decisions harder.

Here’s what fragmented legal data often looks like:

• Contracts stored in different formats across local drives and cloud solutions
• Separate tools used for litigation tracking, compliance, and document management
• Regional teams managing their own files with no connection to HQ
• Little visibility into historical data or key dates

For example, a company with offices in the U.S., EU, and Asia might store contracts in different systems based on region. When it’s time for a contract lifecycle management review or a global data protection audit, pulling everything together becomes a nightmare.

Fragmented data also limits your ability to spot patterns, assess risks, or generate data-driven insights. In a world of regulatory complexity, having clean, centralized, and searchable data is a must-have for real efficiency gains and business alignment.

6. Retention And Burnout Of Junior Legal Staff

If you’ve got junior lawyers on your team, they’re likely handling a stack of repetitive work, facing unclear career paths, and trying to keep up with rising expectations. That combination is driving many to consider a change.

A 2024 Axiom survey found that 58% of in-house lawyers are thinking about leaving their current roles, mostly because of high workloads and limited growth opportunities.

This challenge affects more than headcount. When junior staff feel stuck or undervalued, it slows down legal work, adds pressure to your senior lawyers, and undercuts sustainability across the legal function.

We must not forget that these roles are often the ones helping keep everyday legal processes running. That support matters, especially with increasing demands on in-house teams.

So, what can you do to avoid junior lawyer or paralegal burnout?

Give junior lawyers chances to grow. Let them take part in higher-level matters, even in a supporting role. Build simple development plans, and pair them with someone they can learn from. Make time for feedback and acknowledgment.

Companies that take these steps create space for learning and better efficiency. Over time, they’re usually the ones that retain talent and strengthen their legal teams.

7. Navigating Legal Leadership In A Shifting Political Landscape

Legal leaders are heading into 2025 facing a mix of the known and the unknown. Yes, there are the usual pressures (more work, tighter budgets), but there’s also a different kind of uncertainty hanging over everything this year.

With a new president’s agenda on the horizon and changes coming out of Washington, in-house teams are preparing for regulatory shifts that aren’t fully defined yet.

As Legal Dive recently noted, “the start of any administration in Washington means regulatory change.” But this time around, it’s more complicated.

The Supreme Court has already overturned decades of regulatory precedent through several key rulings in 2024, which now gives companies and third-party providers more wiggle room to interpret agency rules on their own terms.

For legal teams, that raises serious questions. What rules still apply? What’s changing? And how fast? At the same time, the boardroom isn’t just looking for legal answers; they’re turning to in-house lawyers for guidance on corporate governance, risk, and business strategy.

Legal leaders aren’t just reacting anymore. They’re expected to read the room, anticipate change, and shape company strategy in an environment that keeps shifting under their feet. And that role is only getting bigger.

What Briefpoint Can Do For Your In-House Legal Team

You’ve seen the pattern: rising expectations, tighter resources, and new risks at every corner.

From AI oversight and privacy compliance to data sprawl, junior staff burnout, and political shakeups, today’s in-house legal teams aren’t just managing legal work; they’re holding the company together.

And yet, a huge chunk of time is still spent on routine tasks that could be done better and faster with the right tools. That includes drafting discovery documents.

Briefpoint helps solve that problem.

It takes the discovery grunt work off your plate. It drafts responses and requests automatically, with clean formatting and smart objections built in. Upload your file, customize your responses, and download a ready-to-serve draft. It’s that simple.

While your team focuses on strategy, Briefpoint handles the repetitive stuff that eats up your day.

So, if you’re looking for a way to move faster without sacrificing quality, it’s time to try Briefpoint.
Book a demo and see what your team could do with those hours back.