The
first
installment
of
The
General
Counsel
Report
2025
reads
like
something
Indiana
Jones
dusted
off
from
an
ancient
tomb.
A
relic
of
a
long,
lost
civilization
known
as
the
In-House
Lawyers,
circa
the
summer
of
2024.
The
report,
put
together
by
FTI
Consulting
and
Relativity
based
on
interviews
conducted
by
Ari
Kaplan
Advisors
and
surveys
by
Censuswide,
gathered
insights
from
corporate
legal
leaders
from
July
to
September
2024.
It’s
a
slice
of
life
detailing
the
hopes
and
fears
of
legal
officers
concerned
about
heightened
regulation,
the
growing
importance
of
ESG
initiatives,
and
navigating
investigations.
Seems
as
though
they
might
have
different
concerns
in
February
2025.
A
mere
month
into
Trump
II:
Muskrat
Love,
the
administration
has
moved
swiftly
to
gut
regulatory
oversight,
reverse
diversity
initiatives,
and
publicly
retreat
from
white-collar
criminal
probes
(except
to
prosecute
companies
for
diversity,
that
is).
While
the
report
includes
a
few
nods
toward
the
risk
of
a
changing
environment,
the
respondents
by
and
large
describe
a
sliding
doors
world
of
continued
cautious
regulation
in
a
steadily
growing
economy.
Regulation:
From
“Overload”
to
Open
Season
When
surveyed
last
summer,
41
percent
of
GCs
ranked
regulatory
compliance
as
their
number
one
risk.
While
it’s
the
second
year
in
a
row
that
regulation
topped
their
concerns,
the
figure
still
reflected
a
sharp
increase
from
30
percent
the
year
before.
Trump
rolled
back
—
or
at
least
attempted
to
roll
back,
depending
on
your
sense
of
the
judiciary’s
willingness
to
enforce
the
Administrative
Procedure
Act
—
100
or
so
regulations
on
his
first
day.
Since
then,
he
hasn’t
stopped
with
everything
from
environmental
to
labor
to
basic
occupational
safety
getting
the
(attempted)
ax.
Additionally,
when
asked
about
what
areas
of
work
have
increased
in
volume,
new
regulations
and
laws
requiring
policy
refreshes
and
headcount
topped
the
list,
with
74%
listing
this
as
an
area
of
increased
work.
Comparatively,
the
quantitative
survey
asked
respondents
to
rank
the
top
five
areas
that
require
the
most
time
from
legal
departments;
26%
included
compliance
monitoring
and
25%
said
regulatory
investigations.
But
all
this
regulatory
chaos
presents
its
own
risk.
Policy
refreshes
don’t
just
mean
new
rules
—
they
also
mean
deleting
the
old
ones
at
breakneck
speed.
Any
legal
team
that
prepped
for
an
onslaught
of
new
regulations
faces
the
new
compliance
nightmare
of
dealing
with
evaporating
rules.
Blunting
these
concerns
is
the
continued
existence
of
the
overseas
markets
committed
to
running
21st-century
economies
even
while
Trump
wants
to
party
like
it’s
1899
when
child
labor
was
booming
and
tariffs
fueled
America’s
routine
financial
panics.
ESG:
From
Compliance
Risk
to
Political
Target
Environmental,
Social,
and
Governance
compliance
rated
as
a
top-five
legal
risk
for
respondents,
with
more
than
35
percent
placing
it
in
the
top
tier.
According
to
the
report
many
expected
the
area
to
remain
a
complex,
moving
target
with
investors
maintaining
pressure
upon
companies
to
live
up
to
their
pledges
while
noting
some
nascent
pushback.
As
a
result,
there
is
no
way
to
fully
ensure
readiness.
Another
general
counsel
explained,
“We
are
getting
better
and
continue
to
hire
outside
specialists
in
recognition
of
the
need
to
improve.
Most
organizations
are
prepared…However,
we
are
starting
to
see
a
backlash
against
ESG…if
you
recognize
something
other
than
a
commercial
or
economic
value,
you
are
not
necessarily
acting
in
the
best
interests
of
your
shareholders.”
That
pushback
since
transformed
into
a
tidal
wave,
with
Trump
and
his
allies
not
only
railing
against
domestic
ESG
—
particularly
when
it
comes
to
diversity
—
but
hinting
at
cracking
down
on
European-driven
initiatives.
Back
in
the
summer
of
2024,
in-house
counsel
worried
about
getting
grilled
over
greenwashing
or
inadequate
disclosures
and
now
they’re
falling
all
over
themselves
to
publicly
declare
their
rejection
of
the
most
modest
of
diversity
commitments.
It’s
an
inversion
of
corporate
risk.
Companies
that
previously
feared
liability
for
not
doing
enough
on
ESG
now
risk
scrutiny
for
doing
too
much.
It
was
already
a
moving
target,
now
it’s
more
Whac-a-Mole
as
law
departments
face
corporate
governance
strategies
that
were
best
practice
six
months
ago
becoming
potential
legal
liabilities.
Investigations:
The
Unexpected
Pivot
The
report
identifies
internal
investigations
as
one
of
the
most
time-consuming
and
high-risk
areas
for
legal
teams.
Nearly
one-third
of
GCs
reported
a
rise
in
disputes
and
civil
litigation,
while
35
percent
flagged
internal
investigations
as
the
top
trigger
for
legal
action.
But
the
anticipated
drivers
of
these
investigations
—
whistleblower
complaints,
regulatory
scrutiny,
fraud
—
are
being
reconfigured
under
the
new
administration.
White-collar
criminal
enforcement
barely
made
it
past
the
loading
screen
of
Pam
Bondi’s
tenure
as
Attorney
General.
Corporate
fraud
and
foreign
bribery
no
longer
warrant
DOJ
bandwidth,
though
companies
may
have
to
buckle
up
for
federal
probes
to
defend
how
every
Black
employee
on
the
payroll
got
their
jobs.
The
General
Counsel
Report
2025
isn’t
much
of
a
roadmap
at
this
point
as
much
as
a
faded
treasure
map
leading
straight
into
a
booby-trapped
regulatory
hellscape.
But
it
does
highlight
that
the
biggest
challenge
for
in-house
counsel
right
now
is
agility.
Between
the
radical
shift
in
priorities
and
the
administration
committing
to
a
speedrun
to
reverse
decades
of
regulatory
framework
(courts
and
statutes
be
damned),
corporate
legal
has
to
move
fast.
While
slashing
regulation
might
sound
like
it
takes
a
load
off
corporate
legal,
the
sudden
absence
of
guardrails
is
just
as
much
a
legal
migraine
—
especially
when
the
rest
of
the
world
isn’t
racing
to
see
how
fast
they
can
torpedo
corporate
governance.