The idea of quantifying shifts in responsibilities of general counsel, based on HR departments

Here is an interesting quote from BNA’s HR Department Benchmarks and Analysis 2008: “HR departments are continuing a past decade trend of taking on more and more responsibilities. The percentage of HR departments taking on new responsibilities minus those giving up existing responsibilities has more than doubled during the past 10 years.”

No study has come to my attention that shows the percentage of chief legal officers who have taken on more responsibilities in recent years. A priori one might assume that to be likely as companies have become larger, more complex, and laden with more functions (think of corporate social responsibility or risk management). Still, an overall increase in responsibilities of top lawyers is an untested hypothesis.