Best Practices for Legal Ops to Partner with GCs for Efficiency and Value
Dive into the mind of what your GC really wants and you’ll be better equipped to tackle the challenges that matter most to both of you. How can a legal ops innovator spark change for their business while also addressing their GC’s prioritization of mitigating risk—all while staying within a tighter budget?
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This guide is full of best practices for legal ops, discussing how the goals, challenges, and solutions for the GC and the legal operations professional can be addressed through an improved partnership and effective communication.
Addressing the lack of budget and efficient resourcing is something crucial to both the GC and legal ops professional, but legal ops pros must put themselves in the GCs’ shoes to understand how to increase their partnerships’ success.
One of the often overlooked struggles a GC faces when forced to make budget cuts is their dedication to the company’s values and adherence to ethical standards. A full 97% of GCs reported to Wakefield Research that they see themselves as the primary steward of the company’s values. Yet every one of them (100%) acknowledged an intrinsic conflict in their roles: the balancing act of upholding legal department values while subjected to ever-worsening budget constraints.
Legal departments aren't just under-resourced. They’re also facing a revolving door of talent.
Almost all of the departments Wakefield Research surveyed report an uptick in turnover in the last year. And with 80% of GCs anticipating a hiring freeze, it appears this talent turmoil isn't going to subside in the foreseeable future. Ensuring the legal operations team is appropriately staffed is also one of the biggest concerns for legal ops leaders. Legal departments tend to hire for the problems they have, not for the problems that might occur in the future.
Unfortunately, when it comes to hiring external vendors, not all provide the same quality for the cost.
The traditional model of outsourcing to law firms when the in-house legal team needs support has become outdated in this rapidly evolving industry.
While outsourcing to law firms might be necessary for exceptional “bet the company” legal matters, over-reliance on law firms can be a double-edged sword, particularly for routine matters such as overflow work, the need for specific expertise, or the need to quickly assemble a large project team. As any legal ops professional knows, speed is of the essence. But conveying that importance to GCs is easier said than done.
The wave of artificial intelligence (AI), large language models (LLMs), machine learning (ML), and natural language processing (NLP) tools across industries is introducing immense complexity to the legal matters GCs typically face, not to mention how those tools can be used and governed within the in-house team.
In fact, GCs anticipate technology, data privacy, and AI to be three of the top areas in demand for their departments. But at the same time, they’re also among the top three areas to be outsourced to law firms, as most in-house teams lack the expertise required to deal with them as legal matters or to assess, procure, deploy, and govern them as internal tools.
By providing your GC with modern resourcing solutions in a way that makes sense to their specific needs, you’ll be better able to get them on board.
It’s no secret that GCs work in a risk-averse industry that’s historically been slow to embrace change. With legal operations under pressure from budget constraints, rising workloads, and the need for specialized expertise, tailored solutions can make a significant impact. Download the full report to uncover strategies that can help your GC navigate today’s complex legal landscape and gain support for innovative, cost-efficient solutions.