Winmark, through its CLO Programme members, obtained survey data in the Autumn of 2010 from 124 UK general counsel. The 27-page report can be requested from John Jeffcock.
Here is the report’s summary of what happened to those departments overall in the financial meltdown. “Like in 2009, 2010 saw a continued increase (1% in 2009 to 3% in 2010) in the size of in-house teams whilst budgets remained flat (3.2% fall in 2009 to 0.1% increase in 2010).” This data from the United Kingdom closely tracks what the General Counsel Metrics benchmark survey found for U.S. law departments (See my post of Sept. 28, 2011: sky did not fall on U.S. departments.). U.S. departments increased their staff a bit and saw their budgets hold up, albeit they remained flat.