As general counsel and company secretary responsibilities grow faster than team capacity, governance leaders have a chance to shape AI adoption, improve visibility and strengthen board oversight, according to the inaugural Global State of Legal Entity Compliance report from Diligent. The report shows a function becoming more strategic but held back by outdated operating models, with 47% of respondents citing technology gaps and legacy systems as their biggest challenge.
“Teams managing entity governance are facing more risk, more complexity, and higher expectations—all without more resources,” said Amanda Carty, General Manager, Compliance at Diligent. “The opportunity lies in how organisations respond. Strategic leaders are using this moment to modernise their operating model—connecting entity data, board oversight, and AI-driven execution to strengthen governance, support faster and more confident decision-making and elevate the function’s role across the organisation.”
Governance leaders are eager to leverage AI but worry about control
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64% of respondents identify AI governance as the most critical skill for the next three years—ranking it above every traditional legal capability—highlighting how governance leaders are increasingly positioned to shape how AI is adopted and governed across the organisation.
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Comfort with AI completing basic actions without approval is almost evenly split – 38% would be comfortable, 36% would not—highlighting concerns about ceding too much control.
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58% of respondents have AI employed somewhere in the function. The majority (69%) are using general productivity tools.
Expanding mandates are driving a need for new operating models
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74% of practitioners say their scope has expanded in the past two years, while 46% report workloads outpacing headcount, stretching limited capacity across an expanding mandate.
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47% name technology gaps as the single biggest barrier — now level with regulatory complexity (46%) indicating that outdated tools are as constraining as regulation itself.
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The operational cost of the current model is clear: More than 50% of respondents noted at least one near-miss compliance event in the past year.
Governance leaders are positioned to drive greater board impact—but recognition lags
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56% of practitioners describe themselves as strategic advisors to the board, yet only 17% believe their board sees them that way, indicating that the function has matured faster than its perception.
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52% say their boards underestimate the complexity of the entity function, often viewing it as administrative rather than as a strategic driver for risk, capital structure decisions and growth.
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Only 19% of practitioners have near real-time visibility of their obligations — most are working from delayed, incomplete data, often relying on spreadsheets to fill the gaps—making it harder to surface a clear, current picture of governance risk.
