The emergence
of legal operations roles in corporations has changed the way in which companies hire their law firms.
In terms of scope, most new
legal operations teams will focus first on outside counsel because that is where the majority of the legal spend resides.
Join us, along with more than 2,000 attendees, for four days of interactive sessions on the latest trends, technologies, and services
in legal operations.
And it's a surprise to me how quickly people have jumped on board, which I think is great
for legal operations.
I was called by a recruiter about a year ago regarding a position where a 50 - person compliance team reports into the newly formed head of
legal operations role.
The conference also featured a panel discussion of
legal operation managers on «leading lawyers without a license» and a human - centered design boot camp in which attendees worked in teams.
It's a fair analogy,
as legal operations professionals gain more power in corporate legal departments around the world.
To design an effective
legal operations system, you first want to talk to all of the attorneys and staff to find out what issues and matters your legal department handles.
The rise of the
corporate legal operations professional in corporate legal departments has increased in popularity over the past two years and is set to continue going forward.
Legal operations people create processes by looking at the workflow and making recommendations to the general counsel.
With it, the company will have insight
into legal operations that enables effective management of global projects, operational structure, personnel, and internal processes.
Can you demonstrate that you understand how they use these disciplines to
improve legal operations in their corporations?
I also had the privilege of producing a report
about legal operations within corporate law departments during the summer of 2015.
In - house legal department leaders across all industries; in - house counsel; in - house
legal operations leaders and professionals.
Participants were able to gain real life feedback and advice from other
legal operations specialists who are facing many of the same obstacles.
Outside Counsel relationships and partnerships are built on a foundation of trust and satisfaction,
legal operations make them better, faster, stronger, and ensures high quality.
«In terms of staffing, we measure based on diversity,» according to a senior executive who
leads legal operations support for a financial institution.
«No one person has all the skills,» he says, to develop the «systematic approach to legal quality and legal spend management» required of
effective legal operations.
When
defining legal operations it's helpful to look at all the things that naturally fall on the shoulders of lawyers but don't have anything to do with the delivery of advice.
Legal operations used to be one that existed only in large departments focused on efficiencies and effectiveness.
General counsel and
legal operations officers understand that access to meaningful metrics and business intelligence is a key component to managing spend and risk.
And
if legal operations is best situated to effectively employ technology to achieve the goals of efficiency and scales of economy, then it's a success.
Learning the ideas
behind legal operations can be a big help, but for many people, there's nothing better than learning through example.
The panelists will facilitate a lively Q&A during the demo, addressing your burning
legal operations business process questions.
What would be the first piece of advice you would give to someone who wanted to implement their
own legal operations department?
«Our basic objective is to survive throughout the year,» said a senior vice president of
legal operations support for a financial institution.
And the new
legal operations model draws from that principle; it's the perfect blend of law, business, and operations subject experience.
As such, it points to similar growth in the sophistication of
legal operations solutions and sensitivity to ongoing client engagement and development challenges within the industry.
Often people talk about
how legal operations selects technology tools, but roll - out implementation is just as important.
Even the largest law departments with
sophisticated legal operations capability find it difficult to maintain currency with the latest offerings and thinking.
While the association has a strong focus on technology, its offerings support professionals of every stripe in law firms and corporate /
government legal operations.