NEW YORK, July 30, 2025, a tech-enabled legal and professional services company, today released its latest report, Booster Shot: How Legal Departments Are Driving Value in Life Sciences, spotlighting a profound shift in how legal teams within the life sciences industry are approaching legal operations, litigation, and IP strategy. The report, which surveyed 100 senior in-house professionals at life sciences companies, highlights the increasing pressure to improve productivity, manage rising litigation risks, and reframe legal from a cost center into a business enabler.
Experts note that the life sciences industry is in a state of evolution. Advances in biotech and medical innovation are creating new growth opportunities for companies operating in the sector, with consumer healthcare businesses increasingly benefiting from a heightened focus on personal health and well-being. Because of this, litigation activity is an ever-growing burden for life sciences businesses, with 56% of biotech and pharma companies reporting an increase in litigation.
"Legal departments in the life sciences sector are navigating an increasingly complex landscape marked by regulatory flux, IP threats, and costly litigation," said Rajitha Boer, Chief Client Officer at UnitedLex. "Responses to the survey show that the most forward-looking teams are not pulling back but are doubling down on operational rigor, technology, and proactive legal strategy."
Key findings from the report include:
Efficiency Reigns Supreme: Legal spend and productivity were the top two areas for measuring legal department performance, underscoring the challenges that in-house teams in the life sciences sector are facing. In response, in-house teams say they are focusing their optimization efforts on streamlining contract management (61%), enhancing workflows (56%), and controlling legal spend (54%)- areas that can be supported with smarter use of tech and resourcing.
AI Adoption Accelerates: While many industries are grappling with AI, for life sciences businesses it is more complicated. It is heavily regulated and has valuable IP and trade secrets to protect, in addition to highly sensitive and confidential patient information, clinical trial data, and other privacy-related issues to consider. 75% of respondents said they are using or planning to use AI for legal ops over the next 12 months, with most already using it in areas including eDiscovery and litigation support (43%), legal spend management (41%), and contract management and automation (39%). The area that is expected to see the biggest uptick over the next 12 months is regulatory compliance (34%).
IP Becomes a Strategic Priority: Given the value of life sciences companies' IP portfolios and the risk of non-practicing entities seeking to contest patents, the need for life sciences businesses to take a more proactive approach to IP strategy is critical. The top three priorities legal teams cite for enforcing their company's IP rights are proving infringement and defending invalidity claims (70%), collecting competitive intelligence to monitor and detect infringement (64%), and identifying a high-quality search provider to assist in detection (62%).
"Legal leaders are increasingly expected to act as business partners," said Katie Bosley, Director of Legal Operations at UnitedLex. "But to get there, they need to invest in foundational improvements such as standardized processes, data hygiene exercises, and technology that supports smarter decision-making."
Download the full report: https://unitedlex.com/insights/booster-shot-how-legal-departments-are-driving-value-in-life-sciences/
Methodology
UnitedLex partnered with Pensar Media to survey 100 senior in-house professionals at life sciences companies with at least $1 billion in annual revenue in the US and the UK. Respondents included chief legal officers, general counsel, legal directors, corporate counsel, and legal ops decision-makers. The fieldwork was conducted in April 2025.
About UnitedLex
UnitedLex is the preeminent business partner for legal delivering services that achieve value and drive growth for corporate legal departments and law firms in the areas of litigation and investigations, intellectual property, legal operations, and incident response.
Founded in 2006, we co-create solutions that mitigate risk, drive revenue, and optimize business investment-transforming the legal function into a catalyst for success. Our team of 3,000+ legal and business professionals, data analysts, technologists, and engineers support our clients from operational centers around the world.
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press@unitedlex.com
