In-house counsel are seriously looking at how they can take work back from external law firms and either do it themselves or send it abroad, according to a Gazette poll.

In a survey of senior in-house counsel intentions to offshore legal work, respondents said overwhelmingly that, though they do not intend to offshore much in the next two years, they are about to put maximum pressure on external firms to reduce costs.

Almost half (25 out of 52) said they want to take over the work they currently farm out to law firms, send the work abroad, or both. A quarter (13 of 52) said they are ‘looking at new ways of working with external law firms to get maximum value’.

The survey, conducted for the Gazette by the Commerce & Industry Group in conjunction with offshoring business NewGalexy Partners, polled senior in-house lawyers, including heads of legal, and senior and general counsel of FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies.

The survey also showed that in-house counsel have lost confidence in traditional billing methods. Two in five (20 of 52) said they are considering moving away from hourly billing, and just over one in five (12 of 52) are looking at electronic billing. Almost the same proportion (9 of 52) are looking at ditching retainers.

And though corporate in-house lawyers say they are not yet moving work offshore themselves, they may in the future – and they expect law firms to do so. Of the 52 respondents 23 said they thought ‘international firms will set up their own [offshore] units’ and 16 said they thought ‘most large corporations will offshore’.

Read more about the Gazette’s survey results and our analysis of what they mean in the In Business section