In-house counsel had hoped they’d long ago shaken the reputation of being slow-moving and fearful of risk. But a new study has found that remains a huge problem—so much so that business units intentionally keep legal in the dark on new initiatives until the key decisions have been made.

Seventy percent of the 373 U.S. in-house legal professionals who responded to the survey said their top goal was to be better aligned with business functions. Yet according to respondents, 58% of cross-functional partners say legal slows down projects and 41% say it’s too risk-averse.