Corporate Legal Operations Resources and News (October 2021 Edition)

Welcome to Onit’s October compilation of some of the most pertinent and timely articles and legal operations resources. In this month’s digest, we explore a piece of concrete proof for diversity advancement, lagging adoption in automation, the Gartner Hype Cycle and how to reduce time spent on invoice review. We hope you find some valuable takeaways.

1. New Study Reveals Women Legal Execs’ Salaries Outpacing Their Male Counterparts

Women legal executives have some great news to celebrate. According to a recent survey, while salaries for male general counsel remained flat at $2.7 million, the median total compensation for women GCs topped more than $3 million last year – and pay has increased more than 17% since 2019. The number of women GCs surveyed also increased from 33% to 36% in the same amount of time. This offers some proof that companies are willing to pay upper-echelon salaries for diverse legal talent. (Source: Law.com)

2. Gartner Reveals that Trust, Growth and Change are Driving Emerging Technology

Quantum ML is on the rise, and NFTs and decentralized identity are on the cusp of disillusionment, according to the latest Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies. This intriguing article illustrates three overarching trends that its analysts believe will drive organizations to investigate emerging technology, including engineering trust, accelerating growth and sculpting change. Gartner, who is always one of the most valuable legal operations resources for technologies, also explores how a key enabler of competitive differentiation and a catalyst for transformation are driving technology innovation. (Source: Gartner)

3. Are Law Firms Lagging on Automation?

Many law firms continue to demonstrate interest in technology that helps automate manual workflows and improve efficiency, but surprisingly, many others are still lagging behind. About 75% of law firms that responded to a recent survey report that they are not provided with the technology to do their jobs effectively. One reason for this is a crucial disconnect. Administrators mistakenly believe they have provided legal with all the technology they need. The result is that staff spend too much time on routine administrative tasks that automation could handle. (Source: ABA Journal)

4. Legal Trends Lawyers Should Know About

We’re going meta now by sharing legal trends from a compilation of legal trends. The National Law Review recaps a recent report by the ABA that discusses the impact of COVID-19 on the legal industry, how attorney wages are growing faster than inflation, an increase in bar passage rates, progress on the diversity front and some insights on the post-pandemic job market. (Source: The National Law Review)

5. How to Free Yourself from Legal Invoice Review

Legal invoice review often invokes frustration from in-house counsel. After all, which busy lawyer wants to set aside interesting work to review a 100-page law firm bill?  Advances like e-billing and billing guidelines have helped the process tremendously, but there’s still room for improvement. In this podcast, Onit’s Matt DenOuden and Mary Fuzat sit down to discuss the challenges of legal invoice review and how AI finds “between the rules” savings and gives attorneys back time for more strategic contributions. (Source: Onit podcast)

A Bonus Option for Legal Operations Resources

Ready for a break? Try out this video if you need a change from watching puppies or listening to guided meditations for a mid-day lift. You’ll never look at legal billing the same again.