Without a legal roadmap, your in-house legal team is trapped in “busy work” and unable to make significant or meaningful improvements. Overall, our example shows: “We drive the company`s strategy and minimize its risks by providing effective and efficient legal solutions across the company and its operations so that we can do our best together and maximize returns for our shareholders.” Step Five: Design your strategic goals. To find your strategic goals, divide your goal statement into several building blocks. Again, our hypothesis: However, some companies make jobs more attractive by opening up career prospects and upskilling opportunities. Careers in a corporate legal department typically begin three to five years after graduation and training at a law firm. Finding the right person for the job, arguably the most important task of an attorney general, is complicated by the aforementioned changes in the legal ecosystem. While legal departments could previously choose from pre-screened law firm boards for help on specific issues, a much wider range of services (e.g. digitally assisted legal services, legal technology, insourcing providers, and litigation finance) is available. Legal advisors need to learn how to use these services (Figure 3). Begin to align required resources with the agreed upon strategic plan Strategic Planning Matrix Roles and responsibilities This document outlines the responsibilities of each individual within the department at each stage of the strategic planning process. We guide our clients through our proven strategic planning process, which includes rigorously formulating strategic options, evaluating alternatives based on data, and taking action to ensure sustainable execution.
Often, these lawsuits take the form of class actions. Recent examples include air pollution claims, antitrust violations, and breaches of consumers` personal data. Attacks can also be launched in a B2B context: more and more companies see litigation as an opportunity to fight for market share and keep competition at bay. Regulators are suing to enforce the standards, and a new generation of digital litigants are demanding compensation for their clients. Flightright, for example, offers low-cost digital legal services for air passengers. Increase the core efficiency of the legal department (and the satisfaction of the client company it serves). Through more efficient day-to-day operations and increased value for stakeholders, other departments benefit from this increased performance. The first step in creating your strategic plan for the legal department is figuring out where you want to go: what do you want the department to look like at the end of the year? Talk to the boss. Miller writes: “As general counsel, I had to make sure that the department`s goals aligned with those of my boss, the CEO. In addition, and with the permission of the CEO, you will speak to the members of the Board of Directors, in particular the chairs of the committees (e.g. audit, governance, compensation, etc.).
It is important to understand what the board is concerned about at the beginning of the year. How can we do that? (Example: “providing effective and efficient legal solutions”) Aligning the legal department`s activities with the company`s strategic objectives is often an insightful exercise that can help the general counsel articulate the department`s value proposition and decide where new investments are warranted. Identify the core functions (and limitations) of the department to enable optimal use of external consultants. We appreciate the advice of Sterling Miller, General Counsel of Marketo, Inc., who writes, “Legal departments aren`t always good at properly setting goals such as business units, which means it can be difficult to measure the `success` of the legal department against measuring profits and revenue or defining key performance indicators (KPIs). That is, it is important to set goals for the department and this is a new opportunity to take stock of many things. Don`t be afraid of the opportunity and view goal setting as some kind of painful HR exercise that you have to get by. It will pay off for you and your team if done correctly and with some enthusiasm. Around the world, the most resourceful corporate legal departments are expanding their career options with a range of other innovations.
Examples include: objectives, strategies and activities in legal operations integrated with talent development and legal team assessment. Decisions made and work prioritized in accordance with the strategic plan The ministry`s strategy will ultimately provide the legal department with a clear understanding of short- and long-term objectives, as well as a clearly defined path to achieve these objectives. Depending on the wishes, new technologies and management tools can be used so that the department can easily adapt to the “predictable surprises” of a changing business. An effective strategic plan allows an in-house legal department to: Be proactive and forward-looking. What legal, regulatory, business and political trends could impact your business in the coming year? Take the adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018, where 47% of in-house counsel worked to update their data security standards – what`s next? Legal plan aligned with business strategy and with other key stakeholders in the organization (horizontal and vertical alignment) Even as today`s legal departments are under pressure from a new wave of corporate litigation, they have skills gaps to fill and must recruit from a pool of young talent who have doubts about working in legal departments.