The Thomson Reuters Institute’s new 2026 Legal Department Operations Report opens with a number every general counsel and chief legal officer should tape to the monitor. 86% of GCs say legal contributes significantly to company goals. Among the rest of the C-suite, 17% agree. Same company, same meetings, very different scorecards.
The report’s fix is legal ops: pick the three metrics your GC and the C-suite care about and report them every time. One legal ops leader runs a team of 3.5 people supporting more than 200 lawyers in 28 countries, so “we’re small” is no excuse. We covered how GCs prove legal department value to the CEO last week, and the theme keeps coming back. Speaking the language of the business is now part of being a good in-house lawyer, and a strong director of legal operations is suddenly one of the most valuable hires a GC can make.
“Many other C-suite executives don’t yet see the value legal adds, with many saying legal contributes little or nothing to company goals. General counsel are increasingly expected to speak the language of business, and the report recommends that legal ops talk less about the work it does and more about the outcomes it delivers for the business.”
Read: 2026 Legal Department Operations Report at Thomson Reuters Institute