In-House Legal Departments, like any other business function, must be efficient and effective to deliver the best possible results. They must balance their workload, comply with regulatory requirements, and provide legal counsel to their organization in a cost-effective and streamlined manner. That’s where a Legal Operations professional can help, particularly by prioritizing strategic planning, technology, and information governance to ensure the department runs efficiently and provides the best value to the organization.
In part three of our five-part Legal Ops blog series, we’ll take a look at how strategic planning and technology can enhance your legal department's performance.
Strategic Planning
For legal departments to be successful, it's important to establish meaningful strategic goals. This requires shifting from a reactive, short-term mindset to a proactive, long-term approach. Teams should take a holistic view of their business planning, prioritizing corporate imperatives and aligning with the needs of business stakeholders. A shared strategic framework can foster teamwork and collaboration, and help team members see the bigger picture.
Technology
Innovation and automation through technology are crucial for legal teams. Many teams today still rely on point solutions that are often manual, time-consuming, and fragmented in their function. A clear technology vision that spans all of the organization's needs can help teams automate manual processes, digitize physical tasks, and improve speed and quality through the strategic deployment of technology solutions. This can include incorporating tools for e-billing, matter management, contact management, IP management, e-signature, and more. It's important to evaluate new vendors, suppliers, and solutions and assess emerging technology capabilities to keep up with industry advancements.
Information Governance
Legal operations teams must prioritize effective information governance to minimize risk and ensure compliance. However, many in-house departments lack the necessary structure, hindering access to essential information and potentially exposing the company to risk. To mitigate these risks, legal operations leaders should establish clear and comprehensive guidelines for sharing and retaining information. Additionally, they must monitor access to sensitive, confidential, and restricted information and implement appropriate security measures to safeguard corporate records and information.
Conclusion
By prioritizing strategic planning, technology, and information governance, legal operations leaders can improve their department's performance and provide better value to their organization. With the right tools and processes in place, in-house legal teams can better manage their workload, comply with regulatory requirements, and provide legal counsel in a cost-effective and streamlined manner.
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