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A disconnected legal department can unintentionally become a bottleneck for the business. When legal teams operate in silos, far from the strategic core, they lose visibility, influence, and the ability to deliver real value. Decisions are made without their input, resources become scarce, and legal initiatives are pushed to the background. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In this article, we explore four practical ways to reposition the in-house lawyer at the heart of corporate strategy and turn legal from a support function into a strategic growth driver.
This article is also available in Spanish.
In this article, you will find:
- Shift from reactive advisor to proactive strategist
- Strengthen your influence and communication skills
- Integrate technology and processes into your legal practice
- Forge strategic internal alliances
1. Shift from reactive advisor to proactive strategist
From response to anticipation
Many in-house lawyers find themselves constantly reacting to requests. To gain a strategic role, the key is to anticipate business needs before they arise. That means:
- Being present in early-stage meetings with key teams (finance, operations, product…) to identify legal implications before they become risks.
- Proactively proposing policies for contracts, compliance, or risk aligned with the company’s roadmap.
- Using a legal request module system to structure incoming requests, prioritise efficiently, and ensure clarity from day one.
Direct link to the business
The closer legal is to business operations, the more visible and influential it becomes. The in-house lawyer transitions into a “navigator” role—helping steer strategic decisions, not just rubber-stamping them.
2. Strengthen your influence and communication skills
Soft skills matter—more than you think
Many legal professionals can enhance their business impact by refining their communication and influence. It's not just about legal logic; it’s about how you present your position to the business—whether through data, narrative, or a compelling story.
Practical tools to boost influence
- Frame your advice in business terms: revenue protection, cost savings, or competitive advantage.
- Use real-world examples: “This clause helped us avoid a fine that could’ve delayed our regional expansion.”
- Tailor your message to your audience: HR, Finance, or the CEO? Speak their language, understand what motivates them.
Mentoring and coaching for legal teams
Fortunately, these skills can be trained. More and more legal departments are investing in coaching or peer mentoring for in-house counsel. Have you considered this path?
3. Integrate technology and processes into your legal practice
Legal ops, for real-world impact
Strategic in-house lawyers combine legal insight with operational thinking. Embracing legal operations (Legal Ops) allows you to standardise workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and track performance with real metrics.
Legal departments with stronger tech maturity process requests faster, gain internal credibility, and have clearer visibility with leadership.
Real-life applications
- Implement automated contract approval flows: auto-approve when specific conditions are met, escalate to legal when not.
- Use KPIs like “average review time” or “open tickets” to track performance and justify headcount or tools.
- Leverage dashboards to show legal spend, pending risks, or red-flag alerts. This transforms Legal into a control centre, not just an inbox.
You might like: Contract Lifecycle Management – Control your entire contract and document workflow from a single platform.
4. Forge strategic internal alliances
Don’t go it alone
A legal argument on its own may lack traction. But when it’s part of a cross-functional initiative, its credibility and impact grow exponentially.
Potential internal allies
- Finance: to back cost savings from legal automation or risk management.
- Procurement: for large-scale contract processes and negotiations.
- Sales and Commercial: to boost deal speed and operational agility.
- Compliance and ESG: to position legal as a key partner in responsible growth.
Collaboration tactics
- Meet with department heads to identify shared bottlenecks — such as delays in contracts or a lack of standardisation of NDAs.
- Position legal as a problem-solver: How can your work make their lives easier?
- Co-present joint proposals: “Legal + Procurement + Finance” carries more strategic weight.
You might like: Ebook – Strategic collaboration between Legal and other departments.
Bonus: Tools to scale your role as a strategic lawyer
a) Legal playbooks that work
Create a playbook by contract type or clause category to standardise low-risk decisions and free up your time for higher-value work.
b) Legal prompting techniques
AI can help draft model clauses, summarise contracts or flag risks—but only if you ask it the right way. Master the art of prompt crafting tailored to legal reasoning and business needs.
c) Mentoring programs and GC peer groups
Joining regional GC communities or legal ops forums will expose you to real case studies, give you fresh ideas, and amplify your voice across industries.
Why these tactics work in Latin America
- Evolving legal leadership: The role of in-house counsel as strategic partner is no longer new: it’s becoming the standard. Their weight in decision-making is growing fast.
- Pressure for efficiency: companies seek to scale without losing speed. Legal tech and ops are now core to competitive advantage.
- Investment in leadership: Soft skills and legal leadership are becoming a key part of in-house development programs.
- Cross-functional complexity: Legal teams must juggle business, ESG regulation, external investment, and infrastructure—all at once. Strategy is essential.
Conclusion: In-house counsel must become strategy builders
If you want your legal department to grow within the business and gain real influence, you’ll need to rethink your role—from legal operator to strategic architect.
These four tactics will help you:
- Anticipate legal needs and join the conversation earlier.
- Present your ideas with clarity, persuasion, and business logic.
- Rely on structure, automation, and KPIs to deliver efficiently.
- Form partnerships that amplify your influence across the company.
In the current Latin American context—where law and business move hand in hand—this transformation is not just possible, it’s essential. The opportunity is clear: stop being a back-office function, and become a driving force in the company’s success.
Are you ready to take that step? At Bigle, we help in-house legal teams in their strategic transformation through technology, mentoring, and proven frameworks.
Contact one of our legal operations experts to explore how to scale your legal department.
