New year, new challenges: learn how to streamline the role of the legal director

When it comes to innovating in the legal department, its director must connect the needs of the area with the business strategy. To do this, the in-house lawyers of the legal department must familiarise themselves with the new, keep abreast of change and bear in mind that technology, properly chosen, is key to the development of the department. What are the first steps the legal department should take to be among the most innovative?

The present and the future are full of opportunities. The legal department's leader must guide the team in the digital transformation of legal operations.

What are the tips to innovate in the legal department this 2023?

1. Seeking and finding allied solutions
2. Unblocking  interdepartmental work with the legal area
3. Management skills: keeping up with the latest developments

Seeking and finding allied solutions

Legal directors need to see legal tech as their ally and not as an imposed change. The quest for efficiency in teams is a growing demand; doing more and better is increasingly in demand and legal operations are the driver traditional law firms need to achieve that desired volume without compromising quality and security.

Unblocking interdepartmental work with the legal area

A multidisciplinary team is key to the legal function of the future, but it is not always more. Those teams with a proper working system can be more effective than others with dozens of professionals but who have inefficient systems. The legal director has to squeeze the team's potential and meet their needs by establishing an effective collaboration with the rest of the company's departments.

Tips to enhance the work of the legal area with the internal client:

• Implementation of a Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) with legal ticketing solution.
• Creation of a self-service legal document drafting service.
• Standardisation of processes such as automatic documentation generation.
• Implementation of an automated reporting system in terms of KPI and process status.
• Establishment of an automated documentation validation flow.
• Setting up feedback and continuous improvement methods.

Management skills: keeping up with the latest developments

In order to keep up to date, it is necessary to keep pace with the evolution of legal operations. The legal director must demonstrate the value of legal innovation to the business, which requires persuasiveness and knowledge of the latest in legal tech; The legal director must not lose sight of what is driving progress, has to keep abreast of change and put the team at the forefront of innovation.

Tips for the legal area to keep up to date with the latest trends:

• Training: blogs, news, success stories, case studies, attendance at 1to1 events, trade shows, online events and webinars.
• Seeking for technological advice.
• Departmental needs analysis and process mapping.
• Contact colleagues and share the success of the initiatives carried out.
• Consultation of technology adoption studies in the market.
• Technological roadmap approach.
• Implementation of improvements.
• Setting up feedback and continuous improvement systems.

The evolution of the legal director

Faced with a frenetic world of increasing demands, the legal director needs to evolve and discover what changes are necessary for the legal department to thrive, and the legal director's role is not stifled by demands to which he or she is unable to respond.

Legal directors should not only reflect on their tasks, skills and legal tech tools. The legal director must assume the vital role it has for the company and adapt to a reality that asks it to take a step forward to join the company's digitalisation projects and contribute to the competitiveness of its business.

Do you want to know in detail the next steps for the legal department? Download our guide, Challenges and solutions for the Legal Director of 2023, to find out:

• What skills the legal director of the future should have.
• How to cope with modern and changing challenges.
• How to move from a blocking role to facilitating business management.
• Key indicators for the legal area.