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PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF ILTA | FALL 2016
FEATURES
The Evolving Business of Law
Corporate Legal Departments:
From Cost Center to Business Unit
Law firms have learned the hard way that they must integrate the business of law with
the practice of law, but the struggle of in-house legal departments to integrate into their
companies as a collaborative and effective business unit has been rarely discussed.
Over the past decade, legal operations leaders
— non-legal professionals with expertise in business
project management, accounting and technology
management who oversee the business of law — have
seen their roles growing. This change is shiing the
business of law across industries and is providing new
business growth areas for consulting, technology and
financial practices.
The Evolution of Corporate Legal Business
Before the emergence of so-called "commodity" legal
services and the ability to break down services into
singular tasks, corporate legal departments tended to be
less financially accountable within the corporation.
» Operational procedures and services were
typically performed by outside counsel when the
nature of the task or limited capacity of corporate
counsel called for it.
» Aorneys applied their skills to unique areas of
law and were expected to continuously assess a
changing regulatory and legal landscape.
by Mike Russell and Jack Thompson
Legal must be
on the lookout
for innovation
and best practice
operations as it
determines how
the business of
law is changing
and how the
organization can
evolve with it.
