Among the noteworthy takeaways from the “2026 Chief Legal Officers Survey” conducted by the Association of Corporate Counsel (in collaboration with FTI Consulting) are those relating to the role and reporting structure of the top legal officer, as follows:
- The percentage of top legal officers that also hold the title or assume the role of corporate secretary (not assistant corporate secretary) increased from 50% in the 2025 report to 56% in this year’s report (2026), while the percentage of corporate secretaries that report directly to the CLO declined slightly from 5% to 4% over that same time period.
- The General Counsel title remains the most popular title for the top legal officer at 55% in 2026, followed by the Chief Legal Officer title at 34% (up steeply from 25% in 2025).
- Worldwide, 84% of top legal officers report to the CEO (or equivalent), with the US leading the pack regionally at 87%. Those who don’t report to the CEO most commonly report to the CFO.
- Top legal officers most commonly oversee the following functions: compliance (64%); ethics (41%), privacy (40%), and risk (35%). Less common but still greater than 10% are government affairs (24%), ESG (20%), and HR (13%).
The survey was conducted from September through November 2025 and reflects 1,049 respondents worldwide.
Access additional GC/in-house counsel benchmarking surveys on our Corporate Secretary's Office page (see GC/CLO).
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!