45% of in-house lawyers think top 100 law firms offer ‘poor’ or ‘terrible’ value for money, survey finds
A major survey of 160 in-house lawyers by Juro, reveals that 45% of in-house lawyers believe top 100 law firms offer poor or terrible value for money.
Intelligent contracting platform Juro spoke to 160 in-house lawyers across the UK, US, and EU for its annual ‘State of In-house’ report. When asked about the value for money offered on average by top-100 firms, 40% chose ‘poor’ and 5% chose ‘terrible’.
The frustrations come against a backdrop of constrained resources for in-house teams. Just 31% of in-house lawyers surveyed expect their team to grow this year, with 69% expecting it to stay flat or shrink.
With flat or shrinking legal teams and tightening budgets, many in-house lawyers are finding that traditional firms fail to deliver cost-effective support.
When asked for their reasons, respondents cited their four biggest complaints as:
Overpriced services
Poor-quality advice
Advice that lacks commercial relevance
The outdated hourly billing model
“For startups and small companies who want basic legal advice or documentation, the price is astronomical and the service is sub-par as the company will never be a key client,” said one General Counsel.
Another said “The cost inflation in recent years means that it is increasingly difficult to justify spend on outside counsel for anything other than mission critical pieces of advice.”
With law firms struggling to prove their value, in-house teams are increasingly looking to alternative solutions - including AI - to manage growing workloads.
19% of respondents had replaced outside counsel with AI in the last 12 months, and 34% intended to do so in the next six months.
99% of respondents believe AI will change their jobs a year from now, with 43% believing it will change their roles significantly. More than 90% of respondents now use either ChatGPT (OpenAI), Claude (Anthropic) or Gemini (Google) daily or weekly for their jobs.
Juro CEO & Co-founder, Richard Mabey, said:
"In an environment where AI is redefining value in the legal industry, AI-driven solutions and alternative providers are proving that high-quality legal work doesn’t have to come with excessive fees or inefficiencies. As budgets remain tight and workloads grow, in-house teams are making smarter choices and rejecting the old model that no longer serves them."
You can read the full findings and analysis in the report: ‘The State of In-house 2025’.
Katherine Bryant
Juro
+44 7411 446914
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