Tag: legal industry updates

Corporate Legal Department News and Updates for September 2021

Posted on September 7, 2021 by - Artificial Intelligence, Business Process Management, Contract Lifecycle Management

As we ease into month nine of 2021, here are some of the most interesting and timely pieces of corporate legal department news. In this edition, we look into the NDA strain, how COVID and diversity impact GCs and law firms, the numbers behind contract management, legal analytics and more.

1. Are GCs Now Chief Medical Officers Too?

The pandemic has been responsible for many of the most drastic return to work policies in history. But it’s also been changing the roles of chief legal officers. This article examines how GCs are now considering COVID-related ethical questions and the impact of vaccinations on policy decisions and return to office working. Interestingly, some GCs feel as if they are ad hoc medical officers since they need to interpret the proliferation of governmental guidance issued around COVID.

Source: Law.com

2. Cold, Hard Contract Lifecycle Management Numbers [Infographic]

$1,893,312. That’s the average cost for in-house counsel to manage contracts each year. Why so pricy? Contracts often come with unrefined and time-consuming processes, creating a real drain on attorneys and gnawing away at their valuable time. This infographic presents the numbers behind the burden, who is estimated by analyst to use contract lifecycle management and AI and the real-life benefits of adopting both.

Source: Onit blog

3. Corporate Legal Department News Update: Progress Still Lacking in Law Firm Diversity

Corporate legal departments prioritizing diversity for outside counsel may find this recent survey disappointing. According to the Law360 Diversity Snapshot 2021 survey, there’s been only an “incremental change” in diversity numbers. The report found that 18% of law firm attorneys are minorities, a statistic that has crept up by only four percentage points over seven years.  Robert Ambrogi digs into reasons and solutions.

Source: LawSites

4. The New Champions of Driving Business Value Are Corporate Counsel

Digital transformation – either a large initiative or a smaller-scale, specialized project like NDA automation – can positively impact corporate legal departments. According to this article, the concept invites attorneys to step forward as agents of change. In-house attorneys have a chance to champion innovation, advance digital transformation and bring demonstrable value to their business. This article breaks down the fundamentals of becoming a change agent, including where to start, the keys to success and driving digital transformation.

Source: Corporate Counsel

5. Now Hiring: A Data Scientist?

In April, Gartner wrote about the rise of analytics and how legal leaders should tap into a new skill set to advance capabilities. According to the post:

“Legal should hire data scientists only once it has a sufficient number of legal analytics use cases, a solid foundation of data and technology, and a culture that supports advanced analytics.”

If your corporate legal department isn’t quite ready to go that route, it can still find insights into the data it gathers every day. Above the Law examines the demand for legal analytics, the Moneyball effect and news about a recent acquisition that expands legal spend analytics with benchmarking, market intelligence and AI.

Source: Above the Law

Bonus Resource: Avoiding the NDA Strain [Podcast]

The average cost to draft, review, negotiate and file a single NDA is between $114 and $456. Multiply that cost across 500 or 100,000 NDAs a year, and the price tag skyrockets quickly.

And don’t discount the mental burden NDAs take on attorneys.

In 2018, the American Bar Association studied 15,000 attorneys and found that nearly 30% struggled with depression and burnout. What causes depression and burnout? Tedious work, long hours and high stress. It’s not hard to see how high-volume NDAs contribute to those conditions.

In this podcast, AI and digital transformation expert Nick Whitehouse discusses a unique and quick way to avoid the NDA strain with automation and AI.

Legal Industry News: Current News and Trends for Legal Operations Resources, May 2021

Posted on May 6, 2021 by - Artificial Intelligence, Business Process Management

Welcome to our May run-down of legal operations resources, where we share with you some of the most pertinent and timely articles for industry news. We hope this roundup provides some valuable takeaways.

In today’s lineup, we feature insights about how platform technology is transforming legal operations, the benefits of CLM and AI for the Lenovo legal department and new CLOC leadership.

#1

How Platform Technologies Enable Enterprise Collaboration For Corporate Legal Departments

Legal departments no longer function as black boxes within organizations. Today’s legal department regularly engages in cross-collaboration with all departments across the organization, typically with a high level of transparency. Along with the increase in collaboration has come a greater expectation that legal departments will heighten the level of service they provide and demonstrate the value they bring to the business.

Platform technologies are making it possible for legal departments to meet these expectations. Many organizations have replaced stand-alone software and solutions with a platform approach that allows companies to streamline processes across the organization and empowers legal departments to better connect with other departments. The article provides an in-depth discussion of the benefits of platform technology and essential tips on how to pick the right platform.

 (Source: The Impact Lawyers)

 #2

What’s Fueling Transformation in Corporate Legal? A Leading Operations Expert Explains.

The legal industry is primed for transformation, not unlike that seen in healthcare two decades ago, according to Brad Rogers, SVP of Strategy and Growth for Onit and former Chief Operations Officer and Chief of Staff for Advocacy and Oversight at a Fortune Global 100 company. Leaders in law are now thinking differently about how to drive efficiency, effectiveness and value. The transition – which was happening well before remote working – is accelerating, with new operating models that are built on what he sees as the four major drivers of change in the industry. You can hear Brad discuss these factors in this podcast.

(Source: Onit podcast)

#3

CLOC, One of the Leading Legal Operations Resources, Welcomes a New President 

The Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC) announced a shift in leadership, with Mike Haven assuming the role of President on May 1. Haven has been a board member of CLOC since March 2019.

According to Haven, “I will continue to build on our commitment to support the entire legal ecosystem and foster a more diverse, inclusive, efficient and innovative culture.”

Haven is currently the Head of Legal Operations and Associate General Counsel for Intel, with prior law and legal ops experience that includes roles at K&L Gates LLP, NetApp and Gap Inc. He has long been active in the CLOC community, advocating for unity in the legal industry to overcome obstacles to progress.

As a reminder, the CLOC Global Institute starts on May 10. You can sign up now to join discussions on everything from the state of the industry to advancing the strategic direction of a corporate legal department and beyond.

(Source: CLOC)

#4

The Future of Contracting: CLM Automation with AI at Lenovo

Contract lifecycle management (CLM) software and AI continue to transform legal operations by allowing for faster and more efficient contracting processes – something that can benefit every company out there. The combination of CLM and AI also allows organizations to enhance risk and spend management, improve revenue and profit margins and increase visibility into counterparty relationships.

Companies that are looking to reap the benefits of digital transportation can learn from those who have successfully undertaken the transformation journey before them. In a recent webinar for the World Commerce and Contracting Association, the Lenovo Legal Department provides an important touchstone for legal operations resources by describing how they did just that, laying out the crucial factors that led to success and the ability to improve efficiency by 30% with contract AI.

(Source: Onit)

#5

Law Firm (Mostly) Goes Meeting-Free to Address Fatigue

It’s no secret that nearly everyone across the legal industry is suffering from at least some level of burnout after the past year. But what can we do about it?

For Dentons, one idea has been to place a pause on meetings for a week to allow employees to either take time off or play catch-up. The no-meetings week, which occurred the last week of April, applies to standing meetings but not to project and client deadlines. It’s not the first time the firm has tried this approach – they had a similar no-meetings week in December 2020. While the larger question remains as to whether the move is enough to combat a year of pandemic-related stress, the pause is an excellent recognition of the past year’s unique demands.

(Source: ABA Journal)

Get the inside track on legal operations resources and trends, the very best events and helpful content from the legal community by joining Lean Into LegalOps today. The program provides members of the legal community with a forum to share and learn from one another via webinars, debates and weekly catch-up calls. Visit this page to join.

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.