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{ FeatuRe }
The 12 coRe
coMpeTencies of
legal opeRaToRs
What makes legal ops so valuable is the ability to have staff
● Strategic planning ● Professional focused on the business of law. Legal ops managers keep track
● Financial development and of the latest trends and look for ways to incorporate new pro-
management team building in legal cesses into departments.
departments
● Vendor management “We embrace the entire ecosystem,” says Brenton. “If we
● Communications don’t include everyone, you get solutions that other people
● Data analytics
● governance and don’t want. You need to include tech and other vendors, LPOs,
● technology support records management regulators, in-house counsel, law frms and law schools. We are
● Alternative support ● Litigation support dedicated to changing the industry by making sure all the play-
models
● Cross-functional ers understand that the rest of the ecosystem expects more and
● Knowledge alignment expects the best. We’ll never get to a highly effcient free mar-
management
ket where supply meets demand perfectly without a lot of work
and collaboration. We are working hard to bring order to what
has been a certain amount of chaos.”
legal ops in youR oRganizaTion
If you’re convinced that a legal operations spe-
cialist is what you need, the next phase is to cre-
ate a position or team in your organization. This was
the question facing Monica Gallant in 2016. After switching
roles from Regulatory Lead to Legal Operations Manager, she
Different associations are popping up to help legal opera- began to gather the data to see what gaps exist in the orga-
tions. For instance, in 2016, Connie Brenton along with other nization that the legal operations team could tackle. Going
legal operations managers in Silicon Valley, founded the Corpo- through a data analysis will help defne not only potential
rate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC). cost savings but also how the legal department can add more
“I started calling the few legal ops/Chief of Staff leads in the value to your organization.
Bay Area to see about sharing some benchmarking informa- "I’m one of those people who loves to understand how
tion,” says Brenton, Chief of Staff/Director of Legal Operations things work,” says Gallant. “Only by being naturally curious,
at NetApp, Inc. and CEO of CLOC. “From the outset, we were taking time to research and ensuring we truly grasp the inner
a close, sharing and collaborative group. The role was new and workings of a process can we then take steps to create effective
just starting to catch on back when I started CLOC.” and sustainable change for the organization.”
The Consortium is growing rapidly. After hosting their frst After fguring out what you need, you’ll need to fnd the
Institute in 2016, more than 1,000 people showed up for this right person for the job. Typically legal operations specialists
year’s event. Currently the organization has 650 members from have a fnancial background and experience in change man-
17 countries, including Canada. agement. Legal ops managers like Gallant, who has a back-
“We call our conference an ‘Institute’ because the goal of ground in working in fnancial services, don’t necessarily need
the event is to provide educational sessions,” says Brenton. to be lawyers.
“We don’t do panels. Institute sessions are designed to be fo- “It depends on the nature of the business,” says Gallant.
cused, in depth and grad school like in depth and quality. We “We’ve had several lawyers apply to work on the legal opera-
try to hit that mark. At the end of the day, CLOC is one of tions team at Shopify because they’re interested in business op-
the only groups providing comprehensive training for legal erations. This role requires people who thrive on change and
ops professionals and those looking to run their legal depart- who can think strategically. You also need to be someone who
ments like a business. We all want to have our legal depart- is a networker, as developing and maintaining strong relation-
ments running effciently.” ships is critical to success in this role.”
“Long gone are the days [in-house counsel] they were expected to give professional legal advice
and no more. Legal departments are making ever-increasing contributions and are growing in
stature and size within corporations, but in an increasing complex legal environment."
scoTT MoRgan, diRecToR of legal opeRaTions, aiR canada
32 CCCA MAgAzINE | FALL 2017 AutOMNE