Posts about Legal Operations

Legal Operations Team Structure: Optimize Your Legal Ops for Success

Legal operations teams have grown increasingly important to a company’s competitiveness and strategic business initiatives. Sixty-one percent of legal departments employ at least one legal operations professional today—a figure that has nearly tripled since 2015. Nearly a quarter of legal departments have at least four legal operations staff members, and 13% plan on hiring additional personnel to their legal operations team structure in the coming year.

Ultimately, the role of legal operations is to empower legal teams with optimized workflows, tools, and strategic initiatives. But the legal operations’ team structure, role hierarchy, and objectives can vary greatly based on company size. Understanding these differences—and the best practices for your budget—is a worthwhile starting point for change.

Legal Operations Skills and Technology for Improving In-House Efficiency

Increasingly, corporations are embracing the benefits of employing legal operations managers. Acting as crucial change agents, these specialized personnel streamline in-sourcing, drive contracting efficiency, and empower in-house lawyers to spend less time on paperwork and more time practicing law. This article explores the future prospects for legal operations professionals, the necessary legal operations skills they need to succeed in their roles, and how technology complements those roles.

What Is Contract Lifecycle Management and Why Does It Matter?

Contract lifecycle management (CLM) is the process businesses follow to manage contracts from their creation up to their expiration. It’s a simple definition; unfortunately, many CLMs do not account for everything that’s involved in the life cycle of a contract. Any reasonably sized corporate legal department or firm will have thousands of contracts to manage—all with different dates, provisions, retention schedules, and involved parties.

Legal Operations Best Practices: 2022 Edition

Corporate legal departments are facing a slew of challenges in the current market. In-house lawyers reportedly work about 51 hours per week on average, which can have a marked impact on their mental and physical well-being. That’s why legal operations best practices in 2022 need to center on the employee experience. By providing a supportive, transparent, and streamlined working environment, legal teams can cut down on burnout and improve operations across the board. 

Legal Operations Technology: Pain Points and Solutions

Legal operations positions have grown more than 75% since 2018, according to Gartner’s 2021 State of the Legal Function report, and for good reason. These crucial roles form the backbone of successful law firms and corporate legal departments, offering support for budgeting, analytics, process improvements, and the acquisition of competitive legal operations technology. 

Contract Management in Construction: Building a Stronger Review Process

Construction contracts pave the way for shovels to break ground and projects to begin. Beyond a practical formality, contracting in construction protects a company’s best interests, preserves customer relationships, identifies potential risks, and provides a mutually agreeable path for conflict resolution if necessary. 

What is Legal Operations and How Can It Be Streamlined?

Legal operations (or legal ops) is a somewhat new field, but its importance is already widely recognized. In the 2022 ACC Chief Legal Officers Survey, 70% of respondents listed legal ops as their top strategic priority. This is going to be even more important as companies struggle to cut costs and workloads increase amid record-breaking inflation. Companies shouldn’t just  focus on what legal operations is, but also on how it can give them a competitive advantage.

Most Popular Contract Lifecycle Management Tools

Analysts expect the global market for contract lifecycle management software to more than double over the next few years, growing from $1.5 billion in 2020 to $3.84 billion by 2026. 

What Is Logic Programming in AI and How Does It Improve Contract Review?

Artificial intelligence (AI) includes high-level, automated programming systems that, when combined with logic-based programming, can easily encode human knowledge and abilities in a compact and usable way. To date, AI-based contracting software represents the most sophisticated technology on the market, yet some businesses are still on the fence about its true potential. Can it ever truly replace legal department staff, for example? The short answer is no: AI based on logic programming will not replace the human element any time soon, but it can solve a number of unique challenges more efficiently.

Contract Lifecycle Management Best Practices for the Pre-Execution Stage

Pre-execution is the lengthiest phase of the contract lifecycle—and for good reason. During this critical stage, companies can secure favorable terms before a deal has been finalized and mitigate risk by exercising due diligence.