What the future holds for in-house solicitors — trends, challenges and opportunities in 2026 and beyond

As the Scottish legal profession faces a new era of risk, resilience and tech adoption, Ellie Philpotts investigates how in-house legal teams are redefining their roles and what the future holds in 2026.

You don’t need to have studied it, spent your career in it or even used its services to know that law is an ancient sector, rooted in rituals that straddle centuries. Scottish law, perhaps, seems to embody this in particular.

And yet it’s regularly – if not rapidly – evolving. The millennial and generation Z members of its workforce have different expectations to peers from previous times, and act accordingly. The Covid crisis brought changes to working patterns that didn’t boomerang back to how they were. And while some trends come and go, some make their mark, slotting smoothly into procedures that long predate them.

This series is looking through the windows of in-house. What do the trends, challenges and opportunities of this sub-sector look like for the coming year, and maybe even beyond?

R&R

When predicting trends, it’s worth recapping what’s set the groundwork already. For Nicola Blyth, Solicitor & Deputy Secretary at the National Trust for Scotland, R&R stands out. But rather than rest and relaxation, it’s risk and resilience that spring to mind when she considers her role of 15 years.

“Thinking ahead to adapt to the emerging risks and regulatory compliance that impact our business activities, all whilst maintaining a steady foot on the pedal, has become the new norm,” Nicola says.

“The legal work that continues to arise remains the same, but there’s more acute awareness of the risk. The questions you ask are more involved, and you need to work more collaboratively with colleagues across the organisation to understand the impact of what’s being achieved.

“This is particularly so in the National Trust for Scotland as a charity, membership organisation and landowner, focusing on our built heritage, public access and nature conservation. There are almost no areas of law practice we don’t have some touchstone to.”

Nicola continues: “Effective governance of the organisation is critical for the in-house solicitor, both in terms of ensuring there are audit trails of decisions and focusing on the horizon of emerging issues. Perhaps the role has become more strategic than it once was as we navigate the complex environment we find ourselves in.

“Reactive changes and greater regulatory compliance make our roles more focused on risk management and our legal practice weighted by those decisions. Reliance on the specialist expertise of our advisory legal firms continues to be vital in supporting the in-house solicitor in navigating these changes.”

She expects “opportunities to redefine the in-house role as we adapt and evolve in this new horizon”.

Aye, AI?

Anoop Joshi serves as Chief Trust Officer at Trustpilot in Edinburgh. He turns his attention to a technology that’s not unique to law, but one that looks poised to bring significant impacts to it: artificial intelligence (AI).

“Technology adoption will shift from optional to expected. AI tools will sit at the centre of that shift. The challenge for in-house lawyers isn’t simply to plug in tools and expect a new reality. It will be in adopting ways of working that align with business strategy, appropriately manage risk and avoid creating a compliance nightmare two years down the line.

“Legal leaders will be judged on whether they can operationalise AI to better support the business. Those who can show measured, defensible deployment will gain credibility. Those who can’t will be seen as blockers,” warns Anoop.

“Data sharing and data protection will become more complex as AI models depend on richer, more dynamic data flows. In-house lawyers can expect to be pulled into new questions about provenance, model accountability, cross-border data movement and the blurred line between data processing and data training. Regulators won’t wait for industry to catch up. In-house teams will need to build stronger partnerships with engineering, product and security to keep ahead of what’s coming.”

Hannah Leslie, Senior Legal Counsel at Insights, Dundee, also anticipates AI to be both the “biggest opportunity and challenge in 2026 for lawyers, especially in-house”.

“We have the challenges of demonstrating our value whilst AI tools become more advanced; managing colleagues who think ChatGPT can guide them better than their in-house team; and the risk AI poses to the businesses we represent.”

Although intellectual property (IP) is a particular concern considering her role, Hannah doesn’t deem AI all doom and gloom, seeing it as bringing “so much opportunity” synonymously.

This is, she feels, “if we can learn to use AI to our benefit, create efficiencies to limit the administrative burden on in-house lawyers (who often operate under constrained capacity) and free them to focus on areas where they can bring the most value to the business”.

“Openness to being innovative, coming up with creative solutions and embracing technology in an appropriate way is the approach of our legal team going into 2026 and beyond,” she concludes.

Andrew Todd, Group Director, General Counsel and Company Secretary at Elgin-based housing development Springfield Properties plc, also predicts AI as a big presence looming over and into the sector. However, his expectations differ:

“Today, even the smartest AI is like having a poorly performing trainee send you an advice note. Next year it will be like having a poorly performing associate. Within five years, it will be like having a smart partner call you. It may be cliche to say AI is the future. But it’s a cliche because it’s true.”

At the National Trust for Scotland, Nicola agrees: “We also need to keep our finger on the pulse in terms of tech and AI development that might help in our practice. We become our own researchers and support our own IT integration as we look at ways to streamline our efforts. We’ve become more than just solicitors – organisational risk managers, business advisers, custodians.”

Tightening costs and expectations

Back at Trustpilot, Anoop, who leads the legal function at the FTSE 250-listed business, says: “Budgets will be tighter in 2026, which will expose the gaps in any legal function that’s relied on headcount or external counsel to manage workload. I anticipate more blunt conversations about productivity, prioritisation and whether a team genuinely understands the business well enough to focus on what matters. Teams that can’t adapt to the new environment will increasingly look slow and expensive.

“Expectations of external counsel will change sharply. In-house teams will assume firms are using advanced tech to improve speed and accuracy and cut costs. Firms that cling to old operating models will find themselves squeezed. The value proposition will shift toward specialised advice and real strategic insight. Commodity work will be challenged and priced accordingly.

“Finally, the in-house counsel role will continue to stretch beyond legal advice. It will tilt toward influencing governance, shaping responsible use of technology and enabling the business to move faster without tripping over unseen risks. The remit will continue to become broader, not narrower, as businesses hit up against a wider range of issues demanding input from in-house counsel. In-house lawyers who thrive will be those who can think more like operators and enablers – less like gatekeepers.”

Us, too: the student view

What do future members of the Scottish legal workforce think before they’re in it? In her final year of Scots Law LLB at the University of Glasgow, Amy Nixon isn’t currently considering the in-house lifestyle, aspiring towards the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). This is mainly due to her interest in the criminal justice system and social inequalities, but Amy feels some big commercial firms at careers events come across intensely, compared to Crown representatives. To Amy, COPFS seems to offer more opportunities for stability, progression, a good pension and fair pay.

First in her family to attend university, Amy questions if many large commercial firms appeal to her working-class background. She notes that many want participation in unpaid summer holiday schemes, when some students need to earn. Sometimes, their central bases can appear inaccessible for those who can’t live in cities or afford weeks without employment.

Anecdotally, it appears some students remain sceptical about in-house, perhaps influenced by the overwhelming majority of classes going into other career options, and others recently leaving the sector.

Yet this isn’t unique to in-house. And those in it seem keen to keep their house running with a strong foundation – professionally as well as personally.