A survey of in-house lawyers has shown the general satisfaction of inhouse counsel in various countries, although New Zealand is not among those surveyed by the Association of Corporate Counsel.
The Association’s 2015 Census Report asked 5,000 GC’s in 73 countries a wide range of questions to ascertain challenges, job satisfaction and their use of external law firms. More than three quarters of 
Australian in-house lawyers said that they were satisfied with their work, ranking the same as those in the UK and higher than China (72 per cent) and Singapore (67 per cent) but lower than countries including the US (83 per cent), Canada (86 per cent) and Spain (93 per cent).
Australian in-house lawyers work fewer hours on average (47 per week) than those in China and Canada (48), the US (50), Hong Kong (51) and Singapore (52) but also earn less with a higher proportion (almost 40 per cent) of salaries below US$100,000 (along with New Zealand) than any other region. In Canada and the US fewer than 10 per cent earn less than $100,000. Expectation of promotion in the next four years is also lower in Australia than other regions.
Asked about use of external law firms litigation is the primary reason followed by employment and privacy law. There was a slight growth in the use of outside counsel compared to decline shown in the same study in 2011.
Among their greatest challenges the in-house teams said privacy, cybersecurity and corruption were their biggest concerns last year; the latter was most prevalent in Asia Pacific responses.
Download the Census Report Here
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