Digital White Papers

ILTA WHITE PAPER: NOVEMBER 2015 WWW.ILTANET.ORG 10 work in legal operations as it does with most other legal functions; the role is continually changing, and legal operations professionals must be the ones to establish the precedent. They are always trying to come up with better, more efficient, more lawyer- centered approaches to how people work together. Lisa Konie, Senior Director of Legal Operations at Adobe, puts it this way: "I challenge the norm. I continuously look across the department and ask, "Where can we challenge the status quo? Where can we be more effective and efficient? Where can we think outside the box?" She provides an illustrative example: "I was stepping in and observing a meeting about our contracts workflow," she explains, noting that their then-current process was convoluted and complex. "I looked at the team and said, 'You're making the assumption that Adobe signs contracts last. Why don't we sign first?' They just stared at me and asked, 'What? Is that even possible?' They all assumed that Adobe signing last had to be the way it worked." Legal operations executives spend most of their time as change managers — and, on the whole, convincing lawyers to change their ways is not easy. Law departments aren't used to leaving their comfort zones. As far back as anyone can remember, legal departments were the "black box" of organizations — they were left to their own devices, with no reasons or incentives to change their ways of doing things. Legal operations teams are demanding more accountability to the business at large and HOW CLOC IS IMPACTING IN-HOUSE LEGAL OPERATIONS Legal departments are collaborating more than they ever have, particularly when it comes to operations issues. "We're getting rid of the age-old notion," Hupp explains, "that everything we do is proprietary. We're all working on the same issues." Much of what legal operations executives do "is a necessary response to regulation, none of which creates a particular competitive advantage," adds Steve Harmon, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Cisco Systems. As long as exchanges of information are mutual, "I have no problem sharing." This spirit of sharing is embodied in organizations like CLOC. Stephanie Corey, Chief of Staff and Senior Director of Legal Operations at Flex, lauds the advantages of such collaboration, explaining that many of the processes she implements within her own department are inspired by what others within CLOC are doing. Before CLOC met for the first time, "I thought I was the only one doing what I was doing," Corey explains. "I couldn't believe we were all separately working on the same project." Being the resident innovators of our departments means thinking differently than the rest of the team. "I had to completely clear my mind of the way things currently worked," Mango says of her experience beginning a new legal operations department at Autodesk in 2013. "It's a different way of thinking. It's being persistent, open, willing to entertain new things." Relying on precedent doesn't For Jeff Franke, Senior Director of Global Legal Operations and Chief of Staff at Yahoo, "the key to the role is knowing how a legal department should be structured and what technology and processes are needed to optimize the delivery of services and solutions to help drive a competitive advantage for the company the legal department supports. Having practiced law in-house in several areas is a big help in getting that knowledge. You have to be able to think like a general counsel — to think like the general counsel you actually support." Connie Brenton, Senior Director and Chief of Staff at NetApp, views this role "as a new and critical role in building a best-in-class legal department — it is no longer optional in a modern department. Legal operations executives are architects of efficiency and simplification, necessary elements of a well-run business or legal department." LEGAL OPERATIONS: RELATIVELY NEW AND ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL For more information on the CLOC, visit legaloperations.org.

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