Page 13 - CCCA 247020 Magazine Spring 2016

{ PraCTICe ManageMenT }

ments if they wish to infuence expecta-
tions and secure additional resources. Few
businesses have escaped the deteriorating
fnancial conditions since the beginning
of 2016. For that reason, it simply is not
enough to demonstrate high demand and
improved productivity.
Still, I believe adding one or two lawyers
to a department makes no real difference
in coverage or performance in the long
term unless a number of other measures
are introduced at the same time. The Con-
ference Executive Board published survey
fndings early last year concluding that the
“typical” business model for a legal depart-
ment is one of a captive law frm with little
internal leverage or team-based lawyering.
In other words, corporate law departments
are more often than not a collection of solo
practitioners. And most do not have quali- step 1: determine the department’s calling on in-house counsel, and unclear
fed paralegals to support service delivery. activity levels. begin with the following about what the department should be
There are few, if any, work intake con- questions: doing. How can General Counsel cap-
trols. Instead, legal departments default ■ What type and quantity of legal and ture, measure and communicate value in
to a relationship-based, open-door policy. advisory work does the department do such swamp-like conditions? So the frst
They continue to think of the others in the for specifc divisions and the company step is to explicitly describe and measure
company as “clients,” rather than business as a whole? the law department’s current and antici-
partners. Fewer than 10% of the depart- ■ What proportion of the department’s pated activity levels.
ments have documented protocols iden- resources support which parts of the
tifying what kind of work they do, when company each year? step 2: select a handful of basic
they should be called in, who should call ■ How many matters are there? How performance indicators that are part of
and the turnaround standards. In other complex or routine are those matters? the department’s value proposition.
words, expectations are not managed and ■ Can the department quantify the re- In recent years, these fve indicators seem
professional practice continues to be inef- source requirements for the most signif- to resonate with most General Counsel:
fcient. icant projects for the next 12 months? ■ Strategic impact, as measured by the
The bottom line is that the current busi- Departments need this data and more to contribution against high-profle cor-
ness model—one where the legal depart- describe the value they add in concrete porate priorities. These can include
ment is all things to all people—is funda- business terms. A professional relation- signifcant transactions and disputes,
mentally unsustainable. To remedy the ship and stamina are not enough. Every- regulatory issues, and even successful
situation, I have outlined a fve-step process. one is rushed and often ill-prepared when labour agreements.

CanaDIan CORPORaTE COUnSEl aSSOCIaTIOn | CCCa-aCCjE.ORG 13