The Legal Operations “Crystal Ball:” Eight Things to Expect

In our new white paper, Legal Operations: Transforming the Legal Ecosystem, we explore the world of legal operations and how technology is clearly a driving force in the landscape today.

“Running corporate in-house legal departments like a business is quickly gaining traction.” Those words spoken by Connie Brenton, co-founder of the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC), are not to be taken lightly. What it means to run a legal department like a business and how it’s accomplished were the questions that drove the creation of CLOC to begin with, and now the original “book club,” as the founders called it, has morphed into an international organization of legal professionals. Legal operations managers are now found in more and more legal departments of all sizes – not only in the Fortune 500s; another sign that legal operations is here to stay.

In the overall scheme of legal operations in achieving its objectives, technology has increasingly played a prominent role. Driving efficiencies and controlling costs in the legal department are being borne, to a significant degree, by well-chosen technology solutions, and legal operations managers who understand this are taking action.

Our white paper also investigates current trends in legal operations. Looking at current trends is always a good thing and a component of due diligence. But if we had the proverbial crystal ball, wouldn’t it be even better to see the future? Though we know that’s not possible, we can make educated assumptions and predictions based on current trends. We believe the future of legal operations will reveal eight things that should be on our radars now: 1

1. An even greater reliance on legal operations
2. More legal operations professionals hired than ever before
3. A growing focus on the legal sector as it relates to legal operations
4. Legal operations professionals will evolve to become the link between legal and the business
5. Legal operations will likely segment and specialize to meet business demands
6. Legal operations pros will be better positioned to help legal understand business and vice-versa
7. Legal will then become a welcome corporate citizen, collaborating with the business
8. As legal operations grows, the legal department won’t rely solely on its internal operational practices. It will be sharing best practices with peers across the industry.

1 Deloitte: The Legal Department of the Future: How disruptive trends are creating a new business model for in-house legal, 2017