In-House Counsel Survey by ALB and Multilaw for the Year 2025 Commences Acceptance of Responses
The Asian Legal Business (ALB), in partnership with Multilaw, has launched the ALB & Multilaw In-House Counsel Survey 2025. This survey aims to gather insights from the in-house legal community across Asia, focusing on the evolving role of legal departments in navigating economic uncertainty.
The survey, which is available online, will run until July 31, 2025. Participation in the survey contributes to industry knowledge and empowers teams with valuable insights and benchmarks. Responses will remain confidential and will only be shared in aggregated form in the final report.
By participating in the survey, respondents will gain access to exclusive insights and will be among the first to receive comprehensive findings from the survey at the ALB Hong Kong In-house Legal Summit, scheduled for September 11, 2025. The whitepaper launch will officially take place at this event.
The survey will investigate steps taken to ensure that the legal function supports broader organisational objectives. It will look at if legal departments are employing new technologies or methodologies to enhance efficiency, and how they are managing compliance and legal risks in uncertain times.
In the context of Asia around mid-2025, several key themes relevant to the survey's focus can be outlined. Legal teams are operating amid intensifying global trade pressures, such as new U.S. tariffs and evolving supply chain disruptions. For example, Singapore is launching a Business Adaptation Grant (BAG) targeting export-oriented and manufacturing firms to help them restructure operations and manage tariff impacts by October 2025.
Legal counsel in Asia increasingly integrate legal advice into strategic business planning, especially concerning international trade and regulatory changes. The requirement under schemes like Singapore’s BAG for co-investment encourages legal teams to ensure legal strategies support measurable business outcomes and operational resilience.
The evolving AI legal landscape drives legal professionals to adopt new competencies such as AI governance, algorithmic auditing, and technology risk assessment. AI tools are simultaneously automating traditional legal tasks, enabling teams to redeploy resources more efficiently and develop innovative service models.
The regulatory environment in Asia is becoming more sophisticated and sector-specific, especially relating to technologies like AI. Legal teams must keep pace with rapid regulatory developments, including international cooperation on AI governance, enforcement mechanisms, and regulatory sandboxes that allow experimental approaches to compliance.
In summary, while the survey’s precise findings are not directly detailed in available sources, a composite picture emerges of legal teams in Asia stepping up to economic and regulatory challenges by closely aligning legal strategy with business imperatives, embracing technological innovation to transform legal services, adopting innovative resource management strategies, and navigating a complex and evolving regulatory landscape marked by AI governance and trade policy shifts.
For more information and updates on the survey and whitepaper launch, follow announcements. All qualified respondents will receive a complimentary copy of the final whitepaper.
- In-house counsel in Asia are not only providing legal advice but integrating it into strategic business planning, especially concerning international trade and regulatory changes, to ensure legal strategies support measurable business outcomes and operational resilience.
- To manage compliance and legal risks in uncertain times, legal departments in Asia are adopting new technologies and methodologies, with a focus on AI governance, algorithmic auditing, and technology risk assessment, to enhance efficiency and transform traditional legal tasks.
- Participation in the ALB & Multilaw In-House Counsel Survey 2025 will provide valuable insights on how legal teams in Asia are navigating economic uncertainty by closely aligning legal strategy with business imperatives, embracing technological innovation, and adapting to a complex and evolving regulatory landscape marked by AI governance and trade policy shifts.
