The credit crunch has increased pressure on in-house counsel worldwide to prove their worth and thereby survive the economic downturn, according to a poll carried out by the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA).

The results of the 2008 Global Challenge Survey, which will be presented at the NYSBA’s international section conference in Stockholm later this month, revealed that the economic downturn was the biggest challenge affecting corporate counsel.

Thirty-nine per cent of the survey’s 77 respondents, all at large publicly traded international companies headquartered in the US, identified surviving the global slowdown as the major concern – above regulatory issues and rising costs.

The survey also showed that only 15% of respondents had seen a big rise in the amount of litigation affecting their company over the past two years, with 46% reporting little change in the volume of claims made against them.

Allison Tomlinson, a member of the international law and practice section of the NYSBA’s executive committee and senior associate counsel at US engineering and infrastructure company Parsons Brinckerhoff, said: ‘There is always pressure on in-house counsel to be efficient and prove their worth… but the economic downturn has increased the pressure on them to show added value, which can be hard to quantify, and to do it on a lean budget.’

Sapna B Fitzgerald, chairwoman of the Commerce and Industry Group in England and Wales and company secretary and head of legal at LSL Property Services, said the challenge was not confined to the US.

She said: ‘In-house counsel have always had to demonstrate and justify their value. The credit crunch has increased the pressure on in-house departments to do this on this side of the Atlantic too, particularly in the property and financial services sector.

‘The pressure will continue until market conditions improve. Once they do, legal departments affected will need to review their resources – both internal and external – and consider any lessons learned from their experiences during the credit crunch.’