Record Legal Spending in 2025: Key Growth Areas for Law Firms

Record Legal Spending in 2025: Key Growth Areas for Law Firms

Law firms can anticipate another record year of legal spending, with corporate clients facing heightened regulatory, economic, and litigation risks. An Attorney at Work article highlights the 2025 BTI Market Outlook and identifies seven key growth areas for outside counsel:

• Labor & Employment: Driven by increased union activity, regulatory shifts, activist workforces, and layoffs, clients require immediate legal guidance.
• Litigation: A surge in high-stakes cases, novel claims, and escalating financial risks is fueling record spending.
• M&A: Large corporations and smaller players alike are actively pursuing acquisitions and divestitures, particularly in tech.
• Bet-the-Company Litigation: Cases deemed existential threats have quadrupled, with little work going through RFPs.
• Class Actions: Courts are certifying broader classes and novel claims, driving complexity and exposure.
• IP Litigation: Aggressive enforcement and defense strategies are escalating disputes as IP becomes increasingly central to business models.
• Private Equity: With record investable funds, firms are structuring new deals and capital strategies.

The fastest-growing industries for legal spending include:

• High-Tech: AI-related litigation, IP protection, data privacy, and M&A dominate legal needs.
• Financial Services: Complex financial products introduce novel regulatory and litigation risks.
• Pharma: M&A and partnerships fuel legal demand alongside industry-specific compliance needs.
• Food & Agriculture: Rising deal activity, regulatory scrutiny, and IP concerns drive spending.
• Healthcare: Consolidation, labor disputes, and compliance pressures increase legal exposure.
• Consumer Products: Social media-driven claims, product litigation, and technology integration risks are on the rise.

Understanding these growth areas for law firms will help sharpen their business development strategies and capture high-growth opportunities.