April 03, 2020

general counsel elevatenext law department practice of law covid-19 nicole auerbach furlough survey

Today brings additional input from general counsel on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and what they see in the next 6-12 months. According to a  COVID-19 Business Impact Survey by Morrison & Foerster LLP, more than half of the 110 in-house general counsel at global corporations who participated rank the current crisis as “severe”—at a level of 8 or higher on a 10-point scale, with 10 marking the “most severe” effect.

Furthermore, nearly 63% of respondents said that their current workload “has increased as an immediate result of COVID-19.” As the current situation continues, we believe that while the urgency of the crisis may level out or decrease a bit, the amount of additional work will only increase, made harder, of course, if the statistics posted yesterday about the number of furloughs already happening in law departments continues.