The 2026 Legal Mandate (Video)

Resilient Systems and Data-Led Leadership

Last year we saw in-house legal teams deal with two structural challenges that are impossible to ignore. And together, they're changing the way legal functions are designed and operate.

1. Compliance and Regulatory change is faster, broader, and more interconnected

Across data, AI, ESG, competition, employment, and cross-border operations, compliance and regulatory changes are no longer a "once in a while" disruption. It's a constant current. When risk is continuous, legal cannot react in an adhoc manner.

Continuous risk requires a different operating model. One that doesn't depend on last-minute heroics or a handful of people holding everything together.

1. Legal tech and AI are proliferating fast

The question is no longer whether legal teams will use AI. They already are. The real question is: How do you deploy AI responsibly, consistently, and in a way that improves decision-making rather than simply adding noise?

Given this backdrop, we see two defining trends for 2026.

Trend 1: Resilient legal operating systems

In 2026, boards and leadership teams are not looking for firefighting crisis. They want assurance. Assurance comes from a legal function that can respond quickly and predictably—across geographies, business units, and changing regulation—without reinventing the wheel each time.

That requires building resilient legal operating systems grounded in:

• standardization (clear playbooks and repeatable processes)
• governance (who decides what, and how exceptions are handled)
• embedded controls (compliance and risk checks built into workflows)
• predictability at scale (consistent outcomes across teams and regions)

Resilience is not "working harder." It's building institutional capability to deal with risk.

Here is an example.

Employment regulation shifts, and suddenly the business wants quick guidance across multiple states/countries. Without a system, each query becomes a bespoke advisory project.

With a resilient system, pre-approved guidance is documented and searchable. Intake captures key facts upfront (role type, geography, employment model). Escalation rules are clear for high-risk scenarios. Response times are predictable.

This is how legal stops being reactive and becomes dependable.

Trend 2: Data-led legal leadership, enabled by AI

The second trend we see is a shift from intuition-led legal management to data-led legal leadership.

High-performing legal teams are using technology to convert legal work into actionable intelligence. Not just "doing work faster," but using insights to shape better decisions upstream.

This is where AI becomes truly valuable: when it helps legal leaders see patterns that weren't visible before, such as:

• risk concentrations (where risk keeps recurring)
• contract leakage (where value is lost through clauses or deviations)
• dispute patterns (what triggers disputes, which units are exposed)
• compliance gaps (where controls fail, where exceptions cluster)

In this way, legal starts functioning like a strategic sensor for the enterprise.

2026 is a "pivot year"

When we zoom out, these two trends—resilient legal operating systems and data-led legal leadership—point to a larger shift: Legal is moving from being seen primarily as a cost and risk centre to becoming a source of insight and operating leverage for the enterprise.

That's the shift. And it's an important one both for legal and business. When risk is continuous and AI is everywhere, the winners won't be the teams with the most tools. They'll be the teams with clear standards, strong governance, usable data foundations, and the ability to convert legal activity into business intelligence using the most appropriate systems and tools.