For a long time, corporate legal departments were viewed as cost centres that were valued more for preventing issues than for producing results. That view is changing quickly. As businesses invest more in internal competence than in outside counsel, general counsel now sit alongside CEOs and boards as strategic decision-makers, evaluated on business performance measures rather than lawsuit results.

What is causing this? Rapid technological innovation, the professionalization of legal operations as its own discipline, sustained pressure on legal spend, rising regulatory complexity, and growing demands that legal teams demonstrate quantitative value. These trends already characterize corporate legal practice globally, according to surveys conducted by the ACC and Thomson Reuters.

 This change is taking place in India concurrently with the Draft Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2026, a legislative reform that directly affects the future operations of legal departments and law firms.