By Jon Kenton and Michelle Mancy -
Snapshot
- With workloads increasing and budgets reduced, the role of a lawyer has never been more challenging. Lawyers and law departments urgently need to transform – they need to change what they work on, how they do that work and who they work with.
- Change is not easy and meaningful transformation needs a strategy, a plan and someone who has the time to lead this process. This is why law departments need a legal operations function.
- The traditional lawyer focuses on providing the best legal advice whereas the legal operations function focuses on making sure the legal advice is delivered in the most efficient and effective way possible. Both roles are vital for a high performing legal team.
The role of a lawyer has never been more challenging. The 2021 EY Law Survey showed that General Counsels expect workloads to increase by 25 per cent over the next three years with 76 per cent finding that managing the current workload is difficult. This takes place against the backdrop of more constraints, with 88 per cent of law departments expecting their budgets to be reduced. In parallel to this, the contracting process is seen as being a brake on the business, with 50 per cent of business development professionals reporting that it results in lost business (2021 CEO Imperative Study; 2021 EY Law Survey).
These are challenging circumstances. Lawyers and law departments urgently need to transform: they need to change what they work on, how they do that work and who they work with. However, change is not easy, and the legal industry is scattered with well-intentioned but unsuccessful transformation projects. Meaningful transformation needs a strategy, a plan and someone who has the necessary time to lead this process. In short, law departments need a legal operations function.
What is legal operations?
While most lawyers are primarily focused on the practice of law and the provision of legal advice, the legal operations function is interested in how the law department operates. Legal operations is driving the business of law rather than the practice of law. The traditional lawyer focuses on providing the best legal advice whereas the legal operations function focuses on making sure the legal advice is delivered in the most efficient and effective way possible. Both roles are vital for a high performing legal team. In most cases the cost (whether in dollars or time spent) and timeliness of the legal advice is an important factor in the provision of legal advice – it doesn’t matter how good the legal advice is if the recipient can’t afford it or it is too late.
What does the legal operations function do?
The legal operations function focuses on the process of providing legal advice and how to make it more efficient and effective. It considers the necessary skills, the most efficient set of processes to deliver and how to improve these processes, from technology to innovation to support from other businesses.
