Spotlight
2026 ACC Annual Chief Legal Officers Survey
Presented by FTI Consulting
The findings from the 2026 ACC Annual Chief Legal Officers Survey, presented by FTI Consulting, show a fundamental shift in the Chief Legal Officer (CLO) role from a specialized legal advisor to an essential business strategist and technology leader. Drawing on the insights of 1,049 CLO's across 43 countries, this survey provides a comprehensive view of how legal leaders are responding to a global environment marked by geopolitical uncertainty, the rise of artificial intelligence and other market disruptions.
This global report covers the key legal department trends, best practices and challenges that are likely to impact the CLO role in 2026.
Supplements
Participant Overview
1049
CLOs
43
Countries
15+
Industries
Industry
Featured Experts
Meredith Brown
Senior Managing Director
Chicago, IL
Meredith Brown is an expert in advising legal departments on their digital journeys to optimize the customer experience and transform the legal function. As the global co-leader for FTI Technology’s Legal Operations Consulting & Contract Solutions practice, Ms. Brown primarily focuses on Fortune 100 multinational clients in oil and gas, manufacturing, financial services and life sciences. She has a proven track record of devising and implementing end-to-end digital transformation solutions incorporating strategy, technology and people and process improvement.
Wafik Guirgis
Managing Director
Roseland, NJ
Wafik Guirgis is a longtime expert in legal department management and a pioneer in the establishment of the legal operations discipline. Mr. Guirgis has spent more than two decades helping corporate clients improve legal operations by developing long-term strategic plans, evaluating technology and leading large-scale and complex solution implementations. He works with general counsel and legal operations leaders to best capitalize on the transformative aspects of legal operations technology implementations by helping set the stage for change and effective governance before and after implementation.
Chase D'Agostino
Managing Director
New York, NY, United States
Chase D’Agostino is a contract solutions expert with more than 15 years of experience serving global corporations and financial institutions. Mr. D’Agostino designs and delivers solutions that turn contracts into data and insights to deliver specific outcomes and objectives for his clients.
Mike Ferrara
Managing Director
Miami, FL
Mike Ferrara is a legal technology expert with nearly two decades of experience advising organizations and legal departments through complex, effective digital transformation initiatives. Mr. Ferrara provides his clients with extensive domain expertise in legal technology and has led initiatives across information lifecycle management, knowledge management, information governance, privacy operations, risk management, innovation and strategic technology implementations for many of the world’s largest legal departments.
Rohit Gulati
Managing Director
Chicago, IL
Rohit Gulati is a legal technology expert with nearly two decades of experience delivering transformative technology solutions that improve business performance and maximize user adoption. Mr. Gulati collaborates with clients to assess operations and technology to establish strategic roadmaps, select technology solutions and lead implementations. He brings extensive domain expertise in driving contract lifecycle management (“CLM”) and enterprise legal management (“ELM”) transformation initiatives.