The proportion of U.K. in-house counsel expecting to spend more on external legal work in 2022 has risen sharply, as businesses continue to adapt to a post-pandemic and post-Brexit market.

The percentage of legal buyers planning to increase overall legal spend subtracted by those planning to decrease spend hit 23%, up from 1.1% the previous year, according to a Thomson Reuters survey of 265 senior corporate counsel. It is by far the highest net figure in the last five years.