Legal operations in corporate law departments manage key engagement elements such as budget, scope, and timelines. Outside counsel should understand that legal operations exists and should be actively involved in matters. Law firms are encouraged to proactively engage legal operations by asking in-house teams to include the legal ops function, which can improve efficiency and help identify the right internal stakeholders. Common complaints include inefficient use of internal resources, especially when lower-cost resources could be used instead. Another pet peeve is constant upselling, which can create friction with law department expectations and priorities.
"“That they exist.” From a Biglaw perspective, legal ops oversees many of the elements that can be critical to a successful engagement - things like budget, scope, timelines. As one attendee noted, client companies are sure to focus on these areas. Legal ops can work with a law firm to ensure they're all executed to the client's satisfaction."
"“That they should be engaged in your matters.” As a follow-up to the first response, one attendee noted that law firms should proactively ask in-house lawyers to also engage their legal operations team in a given matter. There are strong incentives: Law firms that do so will get paid faster, and they'll have a lot more efficiency in finding the proper company stakeholders to involve throughout a representation."
"Inefficient use of internal resources. One attendee provided a disclaimer: “I don't want to open the debate about the billable hour.” Still, she said, “inefficient use of internal resources” is a pet peeve. If law firms can use lower-cost resources on a matter, they should - and failure to do so will be noticed."
"Constant upselling. For a law department, reaching out t"
#legal-operations #outside-counsel-management #law-firm-client-service #corporate-legal-departments #billing-and-staffing
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