General counsel and chief legal officers should be leaning into operations while the economy remains uncertain and not make penny wise, pound foolish choices, say specialists who help in-house departments operate more efficiently.
“Now is really the time to benefit” from legal ops, says Meredith Brown, a senior managing director at business advisory firm FTI Consulting.
If budget cuts are keeping you from hiring more lawyers, for example, it’s advantageous to invest in the staff that can make your existing lawyers work more efficiently, says Stephanie Corey, CEO of legal operations consulting firm UpLevel Ops.
Legal ops teams can help automate processes for simple and routine matters like non-disclosure agreements and expedite more complicated workflows using contract lifecycle management software, says Tom Stephenson, legal operations director at Credit Karma.
“Now that we have contract lifecycle management systems, you're able to read old books and house all of your contracts in one place, increasing speed to revenue,” Stephenson says.
Your legal ops support can also help systematize an e-billing system as part of a broader outside counsel management program. That can save you up to 10% on your outside counsel spend, Corey says.
The system can also help you prioritize when to use outside counsel and what firms to use based on the complexity of the matter and what they charge, Corey says. Some companies have saved as much as 50% on outside counsel spend, she says.
New perspective
There are other ways to invest in legal operations without increasing headcount, too, like bringing on a legal operations consulting firm, says Brown of FTI.
Another option is to dual-hat a legal operations role by having one person manage two roles simultaneously, she says.
At the very least, legal leaders can start by changing their perspective, the consultants say.
Bring your legal operations person into discussions at the strategic level. The idea is to push departments into thinking of themselves more as a part of their company’s business — and as revenue protectors — and not just legal problem solvers.
At an increasing number of organizations, Stephenson says, legal ops is being made part of the in-house leadership team.
“They're … partnering with a CLO on hiring, career frameworks and what to do when you have less,” he says.
