To better understand the chief legal officer’s perspective, the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) contacted 9,489 individuals holding the title of chief legal officer or general counsel, gathering responses from 1,289 CLOs in 46 countries. The ACC Chief Legal Officers Survey examines the practices, trends and changes in the role of the CLO by key segments such as industry, compensation, gender and region. <div class="cs-additional-info"><div class="cs-additional-info-title">Additional Information</div><h3 style="clear:both;">Free downloads:</h3>
<div align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(175, 201, 209); background-color: rgb(230, 239, 242); padding: 4px; margin: 10px; width: 150px; float: left;"><a href="/legalresources/resource.cfm?show=1389460">Executive Summary</a></div>
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Operating in a global business environment that regularly crosses international jurisdictions, the role of the chief legal officer (CLO) continues to evolve. Today, CLOs have a direct line to the CEO, spending time in a business advisory role in addition to that of counselor. Data breaches are increasingly important, and ethics and compliance remains the most important issue for CLOs overall. The survey report includes data on important topics such as:</p>
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<li>Staffing and training</li>
<li>Legal department budgets</li>
<li>Alternative fee arrangements</li>
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<p>Notable findings include the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Nearly all CLOs responding (96 percent) rated ethics and compliance as an important issue for 2015. One in four CLOs rated compliance as “extremely important.” </li>
<li>Male CLOs were more likely than female CLOs to report the highest compensation packages. </li>
<li>More than one in four CLOs reported experiencing a data breach within their organizations over the past two years. </li>
<li>Most expect the legal department budget to remain the same in 2015; however, 9 percent will make significant increases to their internal budget.</li>
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