2024 in-house legal outlook series: GCs, CLOs ready for hard decisions

Legal leaders look at practical generative AI use cases and get tough on outside counsel spend, among other priorities this year.  

By Lyle Moran and Robert Freedman • Jan. 29, 2024

Outside counsel management is a growing focus for in-house legal teams

An emphasis on cost control is prompting legal departments to scrutinize law firm rate requests and examine shifting work to other providers who cost less.

By Lyle Moran • Jan. 29, 2024

Legal teams to test AI promises with use cases in 2024

If 2023 was the year legal leaders began to think about deploying AI in their operations, 2024 will be the year they try to convert the technology’s promise into tools with measurable results.

By Robert Freedman • Jan. 22, 2024

A CLO’s GenAI prediction: We’ll lean into it — and our humanity

A human-centric, converged approach to harnessing new technology is what will truly make 2024 in-house counsel’s time to shine.

By Shana Simmons • Jan. 18, 2024

How sales perceives legal’s speed on contracts

31% of sales professionals say contract review reduces deal velocity and 24% say contract review isn’t necessary because an agreement is simple.

By Lyle Moran • Jan. 17, 2024

Legal teams advised to review outside counsel staffing

Legal operations units can serve as watchdogs to see if additional members of a law firm are added to submitted bills, according to Thomson Reuters. 

By Lyle Moran • Jan. 16, 2024

Exploring the potential impact of generative AI on legal operations

Before legal ops professionals can participate in serious assessment of AI solutions and tools, they must first understand the nuances between different forms of AI.

By Meredith Brown and Brandon Lee • Jan. 11, 2024

Importance of boards before, during and after a cyber incident

The best practice is to get members of the board involved at the right time. 

By Robert Freedman • Jan. 11, 2024

6 in-house legal trends to watch in 2024

AI, labor, antitrust, bankruptcies, women GCs and cross-collaboration are among the headlines in-house counsel can expect this year.  

By Lyle Moran and Robert Freedman • Jan. 9, 2024

How to fully leverage AI in your legal department

Budgeting, invoicing and other key in-house legal responsibilities can be improved through AI’s ability to pull actionable intelligence from large amounts of data.

By Jeffrey Solomon • Dec. 21, 2023

Why a business-first mindset is critical for in-house counsel

Having subject-matter expertise in the law is just the start of what you need to know to be the kind of partner executives want at the table, according to an Airbus affiliate legal leader.

By Robert Freedman • Dec. 18, 2023

Legal ops pros think AI will help with insourcing work

Legal operations professionals also said they expect law firms will increase their use of alternative fee arrangements for work augmented by generative AI, a report found.

By Lyle Moran • Dec. 13, 2023

How KPMG and Microsoft are helping legal teams deploy AI

The two companies are hosting workshops to assist legal departments in developing generative AI use cases they can implement, a KPMG leader said.

By Lyle Moran • Dec. 12, 2023

What an empowered proxy statement can do for you and your company

Driven by the desire to meet the ever-increasing disclosure requirements, shareholder engagement and proxy statement practices have undergone a significant transformation.

Dec. 11, 2023

Why CLOs should adopt a legal ops framework

Integrating a legal ops paradigm can help build a robust, data-driven narrative that validates the value of the legal department to the business. 

By George Karamanos • Dec. 7, 2023

Clearlaw partners with Tonkean to support contract automation

Clearlaw, a contract intelligence platform powered by AI, previously announced collaborations with StreamlineAI, SimpliContract and PoseidonCM.

By Lyle Moran • Dec. 4, 2023

Pushing back against outside firms’ rate hikes starts with data

Data can help legal teams show outside firms they’re asking for too much money, billing specialists say.

By Robert Freedman • Nov. 29, 2023

66% of legal teams are bringing more work in-house

Meanwhile, one in four legal departments expect to decrease the number of law firms they use, a report from ACC and Everlaw found.

By Lyle Moran • Nov. 21, 2023

73% of lawyers plan to use generative AI, report finds

While there remains trepidation among some lawyers, many are excited by the emerging technology’s potential to boost efficiency and generate deep insights.

By Lyle Moran • Nov. 20, 2023

Property insurers are ready to compete for business

Inflation, natural catastrophes will keep premiums high, at least in the near term, for all but the best risks, a specialist says.

By Robert Freedman • Nov. 17, 2023

Why legal ops should collaborate with other ops teams

A Salesforce SVP said sales and product operations units are among those legal ops would be wise to partner with in advancing company strategy.

By Lyle Moran • Nov. 16, 2023

At Wayfair, legal tech said to enhance shopper experience

Among the goals of the company’s legal tech chief is ensuring data flowing into the general counsel is useful to the broader business.

By Robert Freedman • Nov. 14, 2023

Company leaders don’t want your legal analysis, veteran GC says

They want your business insight on the assumption it’s supported by sound legal thinking, Deanna Sheridan of 3Step Sports says.

By Robert Freedman • Oct. 17, 2023

Paper touts hybrid teams to make in-house lawyers more business focused

Having some lawyers embedded with business units is better than completely decentralizing the legal function as CEOs would prefer, legal talent provider Axiom says.

By Robert Freedman • Oct. 10, 2023

Stemming contract value leakage in a cost-out initiative

To help an organization improve its bottom line, the legal team can contribute by improving how it manages its contracts, especially in the post-execution stage, say in-house legal pros.

By Robert Freedman • Sept. 22, 2023