A recent article in The Lawyer echoes frustrations I often hear from many in-house teams. It highlights two important considerations:
- the, often underestimated/under-appreciated, need for change management, and
- the imperative to know the idiosyncrasies of a legal function.
On the first point, you can devise the best process and acquire the best tech tools, but they won't deliver any benefits if people don't buy-in and if you can't answer, for each and every one of them, the "what's in it for me?" question. As much time, energy and resource (both people and budget) needs to be devoted to the change management element as to the actual process or tool development/implementation.
On the second point, in-house teams want support from people who can talk the talk, but also have walked the walk. It is more than just empathy (although undoubtedly necessary), it is about direct experience. In-house teams choosing to work with our Legal Operations Consulting team do so because is made up of people who have held in-house positions. Consulting projects are by their very nature complex. But understanding the legal in-house team, how they operate and how they fit into the wider business is key to delivering value to in-house teams.
A lot of people in technical roles, especially lawyers, have their own ecosystem that they like, and are scared of change or having to approach things outside their personal expertise. So they outsource work thinking they will get myriad skills covered but often they are getting someone who doesn't actually understand their business well enough to deal with their specific sector in a more mature way."
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