The Top Issues Every GC, CLO, and Legal Ops Professional Needs To Watch in 2026

Several factors will continue to mount pressure on legal professionals in 2026.

Economic uncertainty has resulted in budget and hiring freezes. Yet, workload and resource bandwidth were the top challenges for legal departments, according to the 2025 CLOC State of the Industry Report, and 83% expect demand to increase.

Due to a “perfect storm” of policy, economic, and business disruptions, 79% of legal team leaders say they’re facing elevated risk, based on a 2025 survey from Axiom Law. Forty-one percent report “high” or “extremely high” risk.  

Legal departments need to balance those forces while considering risk, compliance, and efficiency to position their organizations for success. The following areas need to be at the top of the list for 2026.

3 Top Legal Issues for 2026

Here are three issues that should be top of mind for any legal professional in the coming year. 

1. The Role of AI and GenAI 

The CLOC report found AI adoption nearly doubled from 2023 to 2024. An American Bar Association (ABA) tech survey reported that adoption nearly tripled in the same time period.   

Respondents in the survey were optimistic about AI’s ability to save time and increase efficiency, which was the top advantage listed (54%). Document management and document review were second at 9%, with cost reduction at 4.5% was third. Yet there were substantial concerns: accuracy of AI technology (75%), reliability of technology (56%) and data privacy and security concerns (47%) comprised the top three. Each of the concerns increased from the previous year.  

How can legal professionals take advantage of AI — not to mention the emerging presence of GenAI — while balancing concerns? Legal professionals will need to focus on testing, training, and establishing governance frameworks while keeping a close eye on technological developments and relevant legal activity. 

2. Data Management 

Take a look at a few data points from our recent data overload infographic:   

• 64% of organizations manage at least one petabyte of data, while 41% manage at least 500 petabytes (Information Week) 

• 1 billion monthly GenAI prompts and each generates 10-100 times more content than the prompt (Casepoint) 

• 55% of organizational data is “dark” — untapped, often completely unknown (Splunk) 

Meanwhile, centralized data systems are present but hardly doing the job. According to Today’s General Counsel, 90% use centralized data repositories like enterprise legal management, but 63% still rely on manual analysis.  

Being able to handle the increasing volume and complexity of data is a major concern. Legal departments need to establish data governance frameworks, adopt an integrated data platform, and leverage tools to treat data as a strategic asset rather than an afterthought.  

3. Cybersecurity and Data Privacy 

More than a third (36%) of respondents in the 2025 Norton Rose Fulbright Annual Litigations Trends Survey said their organizations were exposed to cybersecurity and data privacy disputes over the past 12 months. It was the greatest increase in any dispute category for the second straight year, and the trend should continue: 79% expected the same (46%) or increased (33%) levels for the coming year.  

The average global breach cost reached $4.88 million in 2024, according to an IBM report. The increase from 2023 was the largest jump since the pandemic.  

Contrast those themes with another stat: only 38% of chief legal officers have a leadership role with cybersecurity responsibilities. The Association of Corporate Counsel Foundation’s 2025 survey noted the rise from 15% in 2020, but still pressed leaders for more. Executive Director of the ACC Foundation, Jennifer Chen, said the report was a “call to action for in-house counsel to embrace their expanding role, develop their cybersecurity expertise, and proactively address the legal and regulatory challenges presented by this ever-evolving threat landscape.”  

Legal teams should take the lead: secure seats on cross-functional cyber committees, harden vendor contracts, and keep tested incident-response playbooks that use in-house eDiscovery for rapid preservation. These steps cut exposure and position legal as a strategic resilience partner.

Start Acting on Your Priority List for 2026

If there’s an overarching trend for these top-of-mind items for 2026, it’s that they can’t wait. The stats and surveys demonstrate that you can’t afford to be reactive.   

So own AI governance, get your data under control, and lead cyber-readiness. You can start those conversations with a high-impact pilot, a targeted data inventory sweep, and a cross-functional breach simulation.   

Then compile other priority list items for 2026. Several others could have made the list: regulatory and policy monitoring, outside counsel management, litigation and cost management, and more. 

Start building out your priority items to prepare your function, your department, and your organization for success in 2026.