The Insourcing Revolution Is Here. And It’s Bigger Than Anyone Expected

Earlier this year, I asked whether legal was approaching a second inflection point—the moment after a business model matures; the moment when an industry collectively decides that change is here to stay. I called it a quiet revolution then because it still felt early. It doesn’t feel early anymore.

Here’s what I’m seeing. The perimeter of what in-house teams own is expanding. Not gradually. Fast. For years, legal departments drew a circle around what they did and what they outsourced to law firms. M&A, litigation and specialized work almost always went to outside counsel, given that in-house teams typically lacked the unique expertise to handle such matters.

What’s more, a lot of “business as usual” work went outside the in-house circle, because sending it to law firms was faster and easier (despite being more expensive) than hiring more full-time staff. What remained inside the circle? A relatively small fraction of the in-house team’s total workload.