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Legal Department Ops Guide for General Counsel

Legal Department

Legal department operations have shifted over the last decade to reflect a broader, global drive toward more efficiency. Every market around the world has felt the effects of the last 10 years of soaring technological change, and the legal operations field is no exception. But legal departments are taking a multi-pronged approach to accomplish this goal of becoming more efficient to contribute to overall organizational profitability: they are onboarding specific people as well as technology solutions. 

After reading Legal Department Operations: A Guide for General Counsel, you should have a better understanding of the relationship of technology (such as CLM software) to the growing legal operations field, how certain solutions help streamline legal ops to solve common problems, and the role of general counsel in the expanding legal department.

The 2018 Chief Legal Officer Survey found that 73 percent of organizations cite hiring an administrator or legal operations manager as the most significant factor in driving legal department efficiency. The value of the legal department manager is becoming more clear as that cross-functional role not only helps to streamline the legal department’s operation but aids in creating efficiencies across the entire organization. The Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC) has cited the benefits of legal ops professionals specifically in establishing operational strategy and overseeing the department’s technology roadmap.

Emerging technologies such as contract management platforms are the second major force impacting legal departments, with artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing at the core of many solutions-creating efficiencies. The Spring 2019 Corporate Legal Operations survey conducted by Consero found that legal technology management is the highest priority for legal operations executives over the next year, and 58% of respondents expect their technology spend to increase as a result.

This blend of bringing on both humans and technology to make legal departments more efficient may come as a surprise to those who have listened to the rumors surrounding AI’s supposed replacement of human legal professionals. While technology won’t be replacing humans in the legal department any time soon – it will increasingly aid departments’ humans to be more productive.

Download this Guide to learn more about:

  • Where Legal Operations has been and where it's going

  • Bringing on both humans and technology to make legal departments more efficient

  • The impact on general counsel

Legal Department Operations: A Guide for General Counsel

Exploring the relationship of technology to the growing legal operations field.

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