đș Event Replay- How to Leverage Legal Ops
To increase efficiency in your legal department
Legal Ops is one of the biggest buzzwords of the year! We brought on three experts who shared all there is to know about legal ops & provided key advice such as how to to get buy-in from the c-suite, and how to implement solutions that work.
Meet the Presenters:
Host:
Ashish Walia, Cofounder, Lawtrades
Panelists:
Deanna DeFrancesco, COO, Legal, WeWork
Reeta Sharma, Legal Ops Lead, Notion
Guilherme Tocci Salcedo, Global Legal Ops, Gympass
Key Takeaways:
Consider the legal ops person as a direct part of leadership team
Work directly with the GC to establish pain points, and learn to function as a business unit
Prepare to prove the function of a leal ops role in your team, and have the metrics to back it up
Be able to pivot & reassess as the business grows
How would you describe legal ops, and where does it sit within your team?
8:50-14:30
Deanna: âIf youâre looking to scale, consider someone devoted to the role early onâ
Operating the department gets more complicated as the company grows
A legal ops role provides consistency & an ounce of prevention for missteps in the future
Reeta: âTake a look at the tools, people, and processes to figure out how to efficiently scale so the legal team can focus on giving adviceâ
Check in on the day-to-day function, but focus on being that strategic partner planning for the future
Guilherme: âLegal ops can help the teams to set the internal business processesâ
Work to prevent inefficiencies in the team
Devote at least one legal ops person to closely monitor processes
How are your current legal teams organized?
14:30-20:45
Guilherme: âWe are divided by regions which set the business modelâ
Legal ops can be a global position that works cross-functionally
Deanna: âOur legal team is a centralized function of the companyâ
Team is separated by three functions- legal tech, finance, & project management
Important to report to GC or CLO, so you can understand whatâs going on across both the legal and business functions
Reeta: âWeâre split up by practice areasâ
Weâre all building out our separate functions
Support the business functions & work to mitigate risk
How do you fight for a budget?
20:45-26:55
Reeta: âIt depends on the company and the appetiteâ
Sometimes you have to bootstrap if the budget is tight
Whatever you are bringing on, make sure that the tools are promoting efficiency
Deanna: âShowing your value is the first stepâ
Position the legal team as something that is going to save money in the long run
Guilherme: âImportant to show data and to show how the team has improvedâ
Be able to manage the teams first, in order to bring in that data
Prove the differences you are providing
How did you build trust with the C-Suite?
26:55-31:32
Guilherme: âYou need to have empathy with the legal teamâ
Listen to the team, and learn their pain
Consider risks, and understand the scalability
Deanna: âWe have a lot of trust building to doâ
We sit at the middle of so many cross-functional teams
Learn to put the right people together
Include the C-suite in the entire process- early and often
Reeta: âBe reliable for the C-Suiteâ
Establish relationships early, understand what they are struggling with
How would you recommend the transition to a dedicated legal ops position?
31:32-40:19
Guilherme: âThey may want all the things at onceâ
Start simple, build from the ground up
Deanna: âAs we scaled, having separate operating systems wasnât efficientâ
Bring people together and have the buy-in, in order to drive adoption
Reeta: âThere's always going to be challengesâ
Be prepared to transition, buy-in can change quickly
What stands out when looking to have someone fill a legal ops role?
43:08-47:15
Guilherme: âItâs common to search for someone whoâs extremely tech related, or someone who completely understands the legal positionâ
Everything in between makes sense, doesnât have to be strictly one side or the other
Reeta: âLook for someone who wants to learnâ
People who understand business, and how lawyers work
Project management background is useful
What is something that adds a lot of value for GCs?
47:15-50:04
Deanna: âTry having someone devoted to do the outs workâ
Sit on the initiative, and manage the overall project
Reeta: âConsider what they want the legal ops person to doâ
Legal ops leader should be GCâs right hand
Want to continue the conversation? Request access to join our exclusive community of legal professionals where Deanna, Reeta, and Guilherme will answer the rest of your questions!
Also, look out for our next event workshop- âPositioning Yourself as a Valued Member of the C-Suiteâ, on October 28th!
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