Tag: Lean into LegalOps

Legal Industry News: Current News and Trends in Legal Operations, March 2021

Posted on March 31, 2021 by - Artificial Intelligence, Business Process Management, Contract Lifecycle Management

Welcome to our March industry run-down, where we share with you some of the most pertinent and timely articles on legal industry news. We hope this roundup of legal industry trends provides some useful takeaways.

In today’s lineup, we share insights about how Lenovo uses AI and automation for contract management, legal technology trends from Gartner and how leaning into communications and leadership traits exhibited by women can enhance collaboration between lawyers and clients.

#1

 An AI Checklist for Every Phase of Contract Lifecycle Management

Contracts are the main source of risk and obligations for corporate legal teams, and if not managed properly, they can lead to a whole host of complications and business failures. The right contract lifecycle management (CLM) tool allows you to modernize the way you deliver legal services, automating and standardizing processes to create a single point of truth for all your contracts.

Nick Whitehouse, general manager of Onit’s AI Center of Excellence, tackles the latest in legal industry news by sharing a checklist for contract AI, covering all phases of CLM. The article includes considerations for both the pre-signature and post-signature contract management phases, including topics like the importance of pre-trained AI, how a CLM solution can turn contract data into actionable intelligence and the overall benefits of contract AI.

(Source: Lexology)

#2

Are You AI-Certified? According to Experts, You Might Want to Look Into that.

While AI solutions are often touted as the solution to human error and bias, the data underlying those tools can contain just as many biases. Problematic data means problematic results, and even potential liability.

One current initiative is trying to change all that by empowering attorneys to give their clients reliable and substantive advice about the AI tools they’re considering using. The University of Toronto’s Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society has partnered with AI Global, a nonprofit focusing on advancing responsible and ethical AI, to create a certification project for lawyers looking to help their firms implement AI tools or advise their clients about AI. The goal of the new program is to create an international framework of AI across a number of industries that is fair, ethical, and responsible, eliminating bias and privacy breaches.

(Source: ABA Journal)

#3

Five In-House Legal Tech Trends from Gartner

In recent years, automation and other technologies have emerged as the obvious solution for beleaguered legal departments that are under constant pressure to cut costs and boost efficiency. While the legal industry has historically been resistant to technology, things have slowly been changing. When the pandemic hit, legal departments shifted gears. As a result, they’ve been able to discover the many benefits of incorporating and embracing technology to achieve business outcomes.

The trend toward widespread technology adoption is only expected to continue. Gartner recently predicted five trends we should expect to see in legal tech in the coming years:

  • By 2024, 20% of generalist lawyers in corporate legal departments will be replaced by nonlawyer staff
  • By 2024, 50% of corporate legal departments’ work related to major corporate transactions will be automated
  • By 2025, corporate legal departments will triple their spending on legal technology
  • By 2025, at least 25% of corporate legal application spending will be on nonspecialist technology providers.
  • By 2025, corporate legal departments will have only captured 30% of the potential benefits of their CLM solutions

 (Source: Gartner)

#4

Look to Women to Advance Success and Collaboration in the Legal Industry

In honor of Women’s History Month, the Women’s Network of the Legal Value Network’s shined the spotlight on what makes women leaders successful and how adopting feminine leadership and communication styles can benefit law firms by advancing collaboration between lawyers and clients.

Female leadership has really risen to the occasion in the face of the pandemic’s challenges, largely because traditionally female leadership qualities – compassion, humility, and collaboration – have been what companies have needed to thrive despite uncertainty. “The qualities that make women great leaders through times of crisis are also what make them great leaders every day,” says Shelley Zalis, CEO of The Female Quotient and founder of The Equality Lounge.

(Source: Legal Value Network)

#5

The Future of Contracting: CLM Automation + AI Transformation at Lenovo

Every legal department can benefit from more efficient processes. Technology is the key to making that possible. The World Commerce and Contracting Association recently held a webinar that looked at the Lenovo legal department transformation journey, highlighting how Lenovo successfully built a strategy for an effective global rollout of contract lifecycle management technology that relied heavily on AI.

Key themes of the webinar included:

  • Lenovo’s CLM evolution and transformation roadmap
  • Multi-year goals related to their contract management technology
  • Why the culture must eat change management for breakfast
  • The benefits and ROI of a single CLM platform

You can watch the entire webinar to learn how AI is driving the future here.

(Source: World Commerce and Contracting Association)

Bonus Resource: Lean Into LegalOps

Get the inside track on corporate legal and operations trends, the very best events and helpful content from the legal community by joining Lean Into LegalOps today. The online forum lets Onit customers and other members of the legal community share and learn from one another with webinars, debates, weekly catch-up calls and more.

Reporting Tips from Legal Operations Professionals: How to Get It Done Right

Posted on December 15, 2020 by - Enterprise Legal Management

There’s a business quote you might have heard about analytics: “Data will talk if you listen.” Indeed, savvy corporate legal departments are increasing their investments in legal operations and technology to “hear” how they are performing. In return, legal operations professionals have evolved into dedicated analytics experts, turning data from sources such as e-billing and matter management into cross-departmental bastions of intelligence.

Viatris (formerly Mylan), a global Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company with products marketed in 165 countries and territories, is no exception. Its legal operations team is well versed in capturing and interpreting legal data.  Kristi Anne Gedid, Sr. Director Global Legal Operations, Eric Wallas, Legal Finance Manager and Brandt Gray, Sr. Manager Business Analysis, recently partnered with Onit to share their best practices on legal reporting.

How to Maintain Data Integrity

One of the fundamental steps of reporting is data integrity. We’ve all heard the saying “garbage in, garbage out.” To bypass that result, the legal operations experts at Viatris have these seven tips.

  1. Keep data clean, consistent and concise – It all starts with intake. Any information – whether e-billing, invoices, timekeeper rates or financial data – must be kept clean and compatible with expectations or it won’t tell a true story.
  2. Monitor data moving between systems – Typically, once approvals are reached for invoices, that data moves into a company’s financial system. Then, it often cycles back into an enterprise legal management system to update payment records. Monitor that lifecycle of data movement to ensure no wires are crossed and all data is transferred/updated appropriately.
  3. Remember currency conversions – When you’re working with law firms in different jurisdictions, data undergoes changes based on countries and currency conversions. Ensure the data is always aligned, especially as it moves year-to-year and throughout different companies, benchmarks and exchange rates. Report in the same and consistent currency.
  4. Set consistent parameters – However your accounting function is set to track invoices (billing period dates, invoice payment dates, etc.), keeping this consistent helps with alignment between different business units.
  5. Consider taxonomy – Lean on this scientific process of naming, defining and classifying groups of information based on shared characteristics. This is especially important when you’re moving data from an old e-billing system to a new one. Don’t give a thousand drop-down options when 20 will suffice.
  6. Blend data – If you’re introducing other data sources from other systems or even spreadsheets, try to keep blended data clean.
  7. Update data – Ensure everyone is aligned when making modifications to your enterprise legal management system, such as adding fields. These changes will have to be incorporated into reporting and accurately reflected.

The legal operations team also shared their tips on identifying basics like big numbers, providing data-driven answers and the best ways to drill down into data. Visit here to hear their entire discussion. Titled “Legal Operations Reporting Done Right,” it is part of Onit’s Lean into LegalOps online learning initiative. You can sign up to join the complimentary program that connects legal operations professionals around the world here.

 

Advice from Travel and Hospitality Legal Operations Leaders on How to Address Pandemic Challenges

Posted on October 22, 2020 by - Company News and Events

The U.S. Travel Industry estimates that travel spending is now 41% lower than last year at this time, representing a $9.1 billion loss. These losses are not a surprise, considering the rise of social distancing and stay-at-home orders. People have canceled vacation plans, including flights, hotels, cruises and more – resulting in $415 billion in cumulative losses for the U.S. travel economy. Restrictions resulting from the pandemic will have an even larger impact globally, with one study claiming that worldwide tourism revenues may take a $3.4 trillion hit.

Travel and hospitality legal departments face challenging times as their companies react, rethink and reset. Now more than ever is a time for legal operations professionals to connect and compare strategies and experiences.

On October 7, Onit and HBR Consulting held a virtual discussion with corporate legal department leaders in these industries to hear how they have been impacted by COVID-19, what changes they are planning for the short and long term and how lessons from this crisis will inform their approach to legal issues in the future.

The panelists, moderated by Kevin Clem, Chief Commercial Officer for HBR Consulting , included:

  • Fred Headon, Assistant General Counsel – Labour and Employment Law for Air Canada
  • Eric Kabot, Senior Associate Counsel of Royal Caribbean
  • Saumil Mehta, Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of Gogo Air

The webinar, titled Checking in on Travel & Hospitality Legal Departments, is now available for on-demand viewing. It is one in a series of Onit’s online learning program for legal operations professionals called Lean Into LegalOps.

Pivots, Cross-Collaboration and More

No matter what impact the pandemic has on your company, the discussion offers valuable insight into navigating through unexpected changes.

Eric Kabot shared how Royal Caribbean’s corporate legal department has undergone staff reductions and now accomplishes more with fewer resources. As a result, the team has shifted from focusing on their respective functional areas prior to the pandemic to a cross-collaborative environment. Fred Headon of Air Canada described how they pivoted their business model on several fronts and how this change has affected the company and its legal operations. Saumil Mehta also said his company, Gogo Air, has changed course as well and emphasized the importance of partnerships and creativity in trying times. According to him, products from Onit helped when the pandemic hit – especially since they had to start working from home.

To hear more from the speakers, you can watch the recorded webinar here.

More Learning Opportunities for Corporate Legal Operations

Onit’s fall series for Lean Into LegalOps continues with more timely learning exchanges, including:

  • Virtual Legal Resourcing Debate with Buying Legal Council, where three debate teams present scenarios to their hypothetical general counsel, who has asked for options to reduce expenses related to outside counsel. (Wednesday, November 18 | 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. CST).
  • The GC’s Guide to Contracts and a Single Point of Truth, as Prosus explains its digitalization initiative and platform technology strategy to improve legal operations. (Thursday, December 10 |  2:00 p.m. BST / 8:00 a.m. CST)

You can register for these events and hear past ones here.

Welcome to the Fall Series of Lean Into LegalOps, Featuring Peer-Led Discussions with Global Companies

Posted on September 10, 2020 by - Company News and Events

We at Onit are excited to announce our fall series of Lean Into LegalOps, where we feature legal innovators from DaVita, Johnson Matthey, Gogo, Royal Caribbean and more. Lean Into LegalOps unites legal operations professionals worldwide and online to share experiences in this time of dispersed operations. The community is supported throughout the season by peer-led webinars, roundtable discussions and check-in calls.

Since its launch in March, Lean Into LegalOps has welcomed more than 2,000 registrants and featured insight from McDonald’s, BT and Colgate-Palmolive. General counsel, inside counsel and legal operations professionals can join at no charge in both the United States and Europe.

As Christine DiDomizio, legal operations lead at Jaguar Land Rover North America and a Lean Into LegalOps contributor, describes it: “Onit technologies helped us adjust to the process of going 100% remote back in March. Now, Onit’s Lean Into LegalOps supports customers and the rest of the legal community looking to connect and learn from each other. I’m excited to see the program continue beyond the initial pandemic emergency and provide more opportunities for legal operations professionals.”

Discussions with Legal Operations Innovators

The fall series of Lean Into LegalOps offers presentations such as:

  • The Power of a Platform – Daniel Lee, director of legal operations for DaVita, will share how the corporate legal department uses a business process automation platform to configure workflows and consolidate data and reports. (September 17, 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. CDT, register here.)
  • Automating Processes to Connect Legal and the Business – General counsel and legal operations presenters from Johnson Matthey, Duff & Phelps and more will focus on using technology to drive savings. (October 2, 9:50 a.m.–10:30 a.m. BST, request a complimentary conference pass to attend.)
  • Checking in on Travel & Hospitality Legal Departments – Speakers from Royal Caribbean, Gogo and more will explore the impact of recent events and how they will inform their approach to legal issues. (October 7, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. CDT, get notification of open registration here.)
  • Checking in on Travel & Hospitality Legal Departments – Leaders from industries hit hardest by societal changes will explore how recent events have impacted their legal departments, what changes they anticipate and how lessons from this crisis will inform their approach to legal issues in the future. Kevin Clem, chief commercial officer at HBR Consulting, will moderate the discussion, and speakers will include legal professionals from Royal Caribbean and Gogo. (October 7, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. CDT, get notification of open registration here.)
  • Legal Operations Reporting Done Right – Legal operations leaders at Mylan, a global pharmaceutical company, discuss creating meaningful reports for different audiences across the enterprise. (October 22, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. CDT, get notification of open registration here.)
  • Virtual Legal Resourcing Debate with Buying Legal Council – This lively session will feature three teams debating scenarios to their hypothetical general counsel, who has asked for options to reduce outside counsel expenses. (November 18, 10:00 a.m.–11:00 a.m. CST, get notification of open registration here.)

Lean Into LegalOps also hosts check-in calls every other week, where members connect informally to discuss topics like diversity, streamlining cross-departmental workflows and cost savings.

Click here to learn more about the program and register for events.

To view previous Lean Into LegalOps presentations, visit here.

 

New On-Demand Webinar: McDonald’s Special Sauce for Corporate Legal Operations Strategy

Posted on July 23, 2020 by - Company News and Events, Enterprise Legal Management

In our latest Lean into LegalOps session, we invite you to learn how corporate legal operations leaders at McDonald’s created a cohesive, long-term strategy to achieve the right balance of people, process and technology. The webinar, McDonald’s To Reveal Special Sauce for Legal Ops Strategy and Transformation, is now available to view on-demand. Here’s a brief recap of the transformation.

Curtis Batterton, legal operations and global technology manager at McDonald’s, has spent more than a decade at McDonald’s. Seven of those years have been in IT management roles for legal. When he started in the corporate legal department, he found it had a squeaky wheel approach to technology – whoever spoke the loudest got the most attention.

The department had on-premise and custom-built systems, with some in use for 15 years. That technology, which included matter management and a document repository, often led in-house counsel and legal professionals to complain about usability and functionality. With a decentralized business structure and multiple systems, IT had to concentrate more on managing infrastructure instead of driving business insight.

Shift to Global

About five years ago, the company shifted to a global legal operations focus. Legal leaders also wanted more flexibility in how and why work gets done. They opted for a business process approach that included legal teams outside of the U.S. and an emphasis on efficiency.  The corporate legal department also wanted more insight into their legal spend.

Solving Business Problems  

Curtis explained in the webinar how the drive to global operations led them to solutions like Onit, which ticked his boxes for their ability for worldwide deployment and flexibility while moving infrastructure management to providers.

“Onit is really a workflow platform,” he shared. The Onit Apptitude platform provided a strategic advantage for building customer apps, allowing them to capture and share technological innovations across legal operations worldwide. They also deployed eBilling from Onit, which gave them greater visibility into legal spend and other important metrics.

Document management was another challenge they addressed. Curtis partnered with Onit partner Morae Global on a worldwide deployment for iManage.

The Future State

New technologies resulted in greater efficiency and business intelligence, as well as a platform for worldwide legal operations. For Curtis, future successes will rely on continuing the vision for global operations. That includes listening to users and their needs and collaborating with adaptive and flexible technology partners.

Learn more about McDonald’s corporate legal operations transformation by watching the webinar here.

Lean into LegalOps

Lean into LegalOps is an online learning initiative open to all legal operations professionals. It connects thousands of in-house counsel and technology experts, offering an expanded toolkit of masterclasses, case studies, educational content and virtual discussions. To join, sign up for the U.S. or European programs today.

How the Cloud Impacts Corporate Legal Operations

Posted on July 2, 2020 by - Business Process Management, Company News and Events, Enterprise Legal Management

When it comes to the cloud, efficiency, and automation, companies may not have to look far for corporate legal operations inspiration. According to Jed Cawthorne, director of security and governance solutions at NetDocuments, legal knowledge management teams and IT offer examples that corporate legal can reference.

As he explained in this recorded Onit webinar presentation, legal knowledge management has over a decade of experience with leveraging collaboration technology, electronic form libraries, intranets, and search applications. IT has made great strides in operations as well. Many IT departments have adopted cloud-based workflow management platforms for submitting requests, assigning jobs, and tracking progress – all to automate tasks and create efficient working environments.

Jed draws from a wealth of experience when it comes to the cloud and legal operations. He has 20 years of experience in information and knowledge management, including document management systems, intranets, and collaboration. He also spent almost five years as director of knowledge management in the legal, corporate, and compliance group at the Bank of Montreal. NetDocuments, an Onit Strategic Alliances Partner, has more than 2,750 enterprise customers worldwide and offers a cloud-based content services and productivity platform that includes document management, email management, and collaboration technology.

In the recording of the webinar, titled “The Impact of Cloud on Legal Operations,” Jed discussed:

  • Questions concerning high-quality service delivery at lower costs using the cloud
  • How efficiency impacts a corporate legal department, including individual attorneys and the department on a whole
  • Examples of how the cloud drives ROI in a corporate legal department

The webinar is part of Onit’s Lean into LegalOps, an online learning initiative that connects legal operations innovators and industry thought leaders. The program recently featured a virtual discussion with BT and Buying Legal Council on optimizing resources inside and outside the legal department and a discussion lead by Pearson, Onit, and Morae on transforming legal services delivery and enabling self-service.

We hope you’ll take some time to view the NetDocuments webinar and discover more about Onit by clicking on the resources below.