In-House Counsel, Legal Operations

Ten Years Burning Down The Road

Do we have somewhere to run to, somewhere to go?

By Brad Blickstein  
on

Ed. note: Welcome to the first installment of Above the Law Department Operations, a new column by Brad Blickstein, principal of the Blickstein Group, a consultancy helping businesses serve corporate law departments and law firms. He also is publisher of the Annual Law Department Operations Survey, which for 10 years has provided the most comprehensive data and analysis on the Legal Ops function.

This year, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Annual Law Department Operations Survey, which we publish in cooperation with Consilio. We have produced this survey since 2008 to give law departments a consistent platform to benchmark themselves and shed light on the emerging profession of law department management. It is the largest, oldest, and most comprehensive law department operations survey in the marketplace, with more than 300 unique data points and more than a hundred different responding law departments each year.

Ten is a round number and round-number anniversaries often trigger a wave of nostalgia, and I am not immune. Plus, a look backwards seems to be an appropriate starting point for my brand new monthly column, Above The Law Department Operations.

When David Cambria (who some call “the Godfather of Legal Operations”) and I conceptualized the Annual Law Department Operations survey in 2008, there were only a few people even in the role. That first year, we could only identify 34 legal ops professionals to even take it. Back then, there were a few low-key regional groups in a few cities, but nothing nationwide. CLOC, which has since grown to serve thousands of members, did not exist. Nor did ACC Legal Ops, and there was hardly any discussion of “legal ops” at any conference anywhere. Launching a survey was actually my third choice for getting involved in legal ops. I only went down that path because there weren’t enough LDO professionals for a viable conference or magazine.

Since then, the legal ops function has become critical to many law departments and legal ops is perhaps the single biggest “trend” in law, depending on one’s view of artificial intelligence and blockchain. I’ve personally gone from having to explain “legal ops” even to in-house counsel to being known as a “legal ops guy.” So, what’s changed?

A decade ago, the relatively few professionals that did focus on legal operations did so at a reasonably high level.

  • Back then, 56 percent made more than $150,000 per year; today only 42 percent do.
  • In 2010, only 11 percent of LDO professionals were alone, today 24 percent are the sole LDO professional.
  • In 2008, three-quarters of the top LDO professionals reported directly to the general counsel; today less than three in five do.

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This is despite the fact that every single sophisticated LDO professional or consultant I’ve ever talked to tells me that reporting to the general counsel is an absolute must for a successful legal ops function. Despite all the hype — and there’s so much hype — legal ops functions are actually less mature than they were 10 years ago. Those who are investing in legal ops are less serious about it than in the past.

To be fair, some of this is caused by a broadening of the function. To some, simply implementing a contract lifecycle management system means they are “doing legal ops.” To others, just leveraging some technology to better manage NDAs is “doing legal ops.” And that’s a problem. If we let the general counsel and business leaders view legal ops as a tactical function that can maybe save the company a few bucks, that’s what it will forever be.

There is much more to be done as the LDO position evolves as a professional career. What’s needed is a strong understanding of the core business, an ability to bridge the gap between the needs of the business and the requirements and nuance of the law, an understanding and commitment to use the resources of the law department to grow the company and the ability to manage outside law firm performance. Other necessary skills are applying the core strengths of any well-trained lawyer: analytical ability, attention to detail, logical reasoning, gravitas, sound judgment, and strong communication to both legal and business problems.

In the analysis around our first survey in 2008, David Cambria, who was then-director of legal operations at Aon and is still chair of the advisory board for the LDO Survey wrote, “If there is one thing that’s clear from our results, it is that operations directors allow law departments to run more efficiently in many different areas. In order to provide even more value by focusing on strategic contributions, we need to get our processes and people buttoned down. With the proper processes in place, we will be able to free up more time and take a higher-level view of the law department and its role within the company.” The more things change, the more they stay the same.

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