Become The Hand That Turns The Key

7 tips to help legal department operations professionals stay front and center.

When we launched the Law Department Operations Survey more a decade ago, there were only a handful of LDO professionals and most people, even in law departments, would respond by asking me what I meant by “law department operations.” A lot has changed. Archer Daniels Midland Global Director of Operations Aaron Van Nice has been on our advisory board ever since, and as he puts it, “The growth of the legal ops function has been enormous. When I started, there were only a few of us and we were all in very large, sophisticated organizations with very large legal spends, and almost all of us reported to the general counsel.”

Back then, despite the direct reporting relationships, the second most common challenge that LDOs faced was to “show value to the position to the corporation.” Today, it’s not even one of the top seven challenges.

Robin Snasdell of Consilio thinks that’s a problem. Snasdell runs the Law Department Management practice at Consilio, and he and his firm have been studying law department operations as long as anyone. Snasdell is a bit alarmed that LDO professionals are no longer concerned about proving their value. “One of their most important roles is providing the business case and ROI to fund the initiatives to support law department operations,” he says.

In our 10th Anniversary Law Department Operations Survey Report, Snasdell set out seven tips to help LDO professionals stay front and center.

  • Consolidate enterprise legal spend to roll up to the law department. Many companies still manage legal spend regionally or by business unit, outside of the legal department, but consolidating all legal spend provides an LDO leader the opportunity to make a positive financial impact.
  • Create a three-year plan and make a list of initiatives that take into account the needs of your most important legal stakeholders. Organize this list into short, medium and long-term initiatives, estimate effort, articulate potential value, and document who they impact and the potential ROI.
  • Present the findings to key stakeholders and campaign! Go on a “book tour” with the most important stakeholders, who will likely include the general counsel, head of litigation, head of IP, and other AGCs, to get them to buy in to the initiatives. Finding those stakeholders who are most amenable will strengthen your power base.
  • Start the initiatives with the shortest timeline. Consider “low hanging fruit” projects that offer good value, are low in cost, and may have a visible impact on your company’s business. For example, revamping outside counsel billing guidelines to the latest best practices or initiating a cybersecurity assessment of your law firms can quickly and easily show proactive value.
  • Communicate successes. Get the message out internally about successful initiatives and clearly communicate expectations on ongoing initiatives — especially what not to expect. Pro tip: internal promotions with competitions and prizes are increasingly popular and will help you stir enthusiasm, get the message out, and begin to gain traction.
  • Hire experts. There are many experts who have already gone through what you are trying to achieve and can provide best practices that help ensure success and reduce risk. Admitting you need help may seem like a negative in the short-term but it will lead to more credibility and successful initiatives over time. If it potentially adds value as an operational initiative, it is the responsibility of LDOs to bring it over the finish line.
  • Think like the CFO. Ultimately, the general counsel has to be in a position where he or she can respond to questions from the chief financial officer. LDOs are in the best position to help their general counsel anticipate these questions, be prepared to answer them and be so far in front that the CFO can voice no complaints.

Today, only 59 percent of LDO professionals report directly to the general counsel. “Letting legal department leaders forget or not fully understand the value of the legal operations function will cause funding challenges that will ultimately compromise the role, authority and effectiveness of the legal operations team,” adds Snasdell. “If you don’t, you may be failing in your mission.”

What else can LDO professionals do to stay on top? You can join Robin, Aaron and me — as well as Baker McKenzie’s David Cambria and Phillips 66’s Ron Denton — this Wednesday, November 14 for our complimentary 10th Annual Law Department Operations Survey webinar. We will analyze a decade’s worth of benchmarking data and provide insight to help you succeed.

Sponsored

Register Today


Brad Blickstein is 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.

Sponsored