In-house and legal ops professionals know they need to do a better job communicating their value to the business.
But when your function trades in the currency of mitigated risk, how do you translate that value to the rest of the rest of the organization?
In working with enterprise legal teams embarking on their outside counsel management journey — or improving their existing program — I’ve observed that the problem isn’t that legal doesn’t have a desire to better communicate their value to the rest of the business. They just don’t know where to start or how to do it. They lack a framework, the right tools, and the time it takes to build the muscle around showing their value in a language that’s understood by the rest of the business.
I’ve also been privileged to work with a number of teams who have learned how to do this exceptionally well.
Here are the four common attributes they all share.
1. They align legal and business objectives
Exceptional legal teams are proactive partners in business strategy. They work hard to avoid becoming a silo or chokepoint in their organizations. They aim to understand the goals and challenges of the business and then tailor their efforts to directly support these objectives.
For example, one legal operations team I worked with was supporting a high-growth company whose key goals were to expand across new global jurisdictions and deepen their penetration into their local market. With this in mind, the legal operations team proactively explored the legal resources available in their prospective markets through an RFI. They also worked to establish creative pricing engagements with their current firms.
As a result, the legal team was able to quickly establish and deploy a global panel in several new jurisdictions. They also increased the speed and efficiency of their new deals to allow their sales teams to deploy as quickly as possible.
By aligning their advice and insights with overarching business objectives, this legal team helped transform the perspective of legal from being an obstacle to that of a trusted partner and advocate to other functions in the business.
2. They focus on service delivery
Top-tier legal departments treat other business units as clients even though they are functional peers within the same business. This includes having well-defined and established client service models that prioritize responsiveness, transparency, and efficiency and employing tools like legal request platforms, FAQ resources, communication channels, and project management dashboards to ensure optimal client experience.
One of the best examples I’ve seen of this model in action is Moderna’s legal department under the leadership of Shannon Thyme Klinger. Amidst the surge in GenAI technologies, Moderna partnered with OpenAI, pioneering the adoption of GenAI within their legal operations. This initiative led to the legal department achieving a remarkable 100% adoption rate of GenAI tools.
By leading their organization in using Large Language Models (LLMs), Shannon’s team has exponentially increased the value delivered by legal to the rest of the business and scaled their impact across the organization. This technological integration allows the legal team to devote more time and resources to enhancing service quality and strengthening partnerships with their internal clients, setting a new standard in service delivery, and teaching the business to trust and rely on them more.
3. They have a targeted vision for their technology and process improvements
The best legal teams introduce technology and process improvements with a clear view of the end benefit. Rather than focus solely on efficiency, they also evaluate their resource investments for results and outcomes that will provide tangible benefits to the company. They also continuously evaluate and refine their legal processes to adapt to the changing needs of the business.
For example, one legal department I worked with had a limited budget for technology enhancements and identified two essential tools — selecting both was in excess of their budget. But because of their comprehensive due diligence and research, they were able to craft a compelling business case and persuade the company to allocate the additional funds to procure both tools.
Legal teams that have a clear and persuasive vision for their technology stack are better positioned to get the support and budget they need from the business. This strategic approach is crucial for departments, particularly in smaller organizations, where resources and time are scarce, and the need for a robust return on investment is high.
4. They can confidently and enthusiastically communicate their value
Great legal teams exude confidence and enthusiasm. Because they’re aligned with the rest of the business, they know their work will resonate. But they also know that they need a good way to show it.
They do this by building data-driven programs that have measurable, quantifiable, and tangible results. This helps them to more effectively communicate their impact and share key metrics with stakeholders — from the board to functional peers — in a clear and accessible format.
This is something that I’ve seen across many of our clients using PERSUIT. Some of the ways they achieve this are by:
- Taking a strategic approach to presenting to the business by creating communication plans
- Using case studies that document their contributions to significant company projects
- Establishing routine reporting processes and platforms, like dashboards
- Presenting their data in visually engaging formats, including both qualitative and quantitative benefits
Finally, we see nearly every one of these exemplary teams publish an annual "Legal Year in Review" to underscore their pivotal role in achieving corporate goals and cement their reputation as strategic partners within the company.
Note: Want to learn more about how world-class legal teams run their outside counsel management programs? Check out PERSUIT's Guide to Establishing an Outside Counsel Management Program, which includes KPIs to report in the first 30, 90, 180, and 365 days of a new OCM program.