When we conducted Passle's General Counsel research in 2023, the finding that landed hardest was not the one about time spent, or even the commercial impact of thought leadership on hiring decisions. It was the unanimous verdict: 100% of GCs surveyed felt that thought leadership was a responsibility of their suppliers. Every single one. There's a full length video of that here.

What made that number land so heavily was what sat alongside it. Only 8% of those same GCs thought law firms were actually delivering. Eleven out of twelve GCs represented unmet demand, sitting right there, waiting for firms with the ambition to step into it.

So when I read the new JD Supra and LIMELIGHT research, "Trust, Relevance & AI in 2026," I found myself nodding throughout. Their research echoes a lot of what we saw in 2023 and does a really good job bringing those numbers up to date.

The Audience Has Not Gone Anywhere

If anything, appetite has grown. Their survey of nearly 200 corporate counsel and C-suite executives found that over 82% access legal thought leadership at least weekly, with 45% engaging daily. Many spend five to ten or more hours per week doing so. This mirrors our data from 2023. These are not passive readers. They are active, hungry, and highly selective.

This mirrors almost exactly what we found in 2023, where most GCs were spending eight or more hours per week on content. A full working day. The opportunity for firms prepared to show up consistently and substantively remains enormous.
 

The Commercial Link is Now Evidenced

One thing the JD Supra and LIMELIGHT research does brilliantly is close the loop between content and revenue. 61% of respondents said thought leadership had influenced a decision to hire a law firm, with 27% having hired directly on that basis. A further 34% said it helped a firm stand out from competitors.

This is the business case that law firm marketers have always known exists but have sometimes struggled to make stick internally. Now you have independent data from buyers, not vendors, making it for you.

Insight and Opinion Beat Summary Every Time

Both our GC research and this new study confirm the same content truth. GCs do not want a restatement of what happened. They want your lawyers' take on what it means for them, their sector, and their decisions. The JD Supra and LIMELIGHT data shows that the top reasons GCs engage with thought leadership are industry insight and updates, guidance around breaking news, answers to specific legal questions, and strategic counsel connected to their business.

Visible expertise wins. Curation alone does not cut it.
 

What Kills Trust Fast

Content that feels self-promotional, buries the insight, drowns in legalese, or gets trapped behind registration forms all actively erode the trust you are trying to build. If your in-house contact cannot forward your alert to their CFO and have it understood immediately, the content has not done its job.

Create once, publish everywhere, and keep it brief, so your audience gets the point in just a few minutes.

AI Changes Discovery, Not the Fundamentals

Limelight and JD Supra' have done a great job dedicating useful attention to AI, finding that 40% of readers are skeptical of AI-generated legal content, while 69% use AI responses as a starting point rather than a final answer, clicking through to verify sources. 

I don't think that firms can or should ignore the benefits to well implemented AI, with proper guiderails and review. At the end of the day, good AI deployed well next to the right human expertise will be a real competitive advantage.

For firms thinking about AI visibility, the implication is clear: authoritative, clearly attributed content published on trusted platforms is what gets cited and followed back to source. The firms building that foundation now are the ones who will benefit most as AI-driven discovery matures.

The Gap is Still There. So is the Opportunity.

What strikes me most, reading this research three years on from our own, is how consistent the signal has been. GCs are engaged, they are commercially influenced by thought leadership, and most firms are still not producing enough of it. The gap between what buyers want and what suppliers deliver has not closed.

That gap remains the single biggest opportunity in legal marketing. Passle exists to help firms close it.