Organization and Resources of the Legal Department

The configuration and deployment of legal resources must be synchronized with corporate, business unit and legal department goals. Legal service teams must reconcile geographic imperatives with expertise. Our offerings deal with

	legal specialities
	legal team and business unit alignment
	cross-border and multi-site legal departments
	functional - operational reporting of legal teams
	resources for the legal department

For further information on structuring and aligning your legal department, contact Richard Stock at rstock@catalystlegal.com  or (416) 367-4447.

Articles on Legal Department Organization

"Of Clouds and Silver Linings"
Lexpert, Vol. 10, no 8, June 2009

Legal departments can do three things to better manage until the end of 2011. The first is to estimate the demand for legal services by specialization, business unit complexity, and number of hours. The second is to better manage work intake and workflows into the law department and re-calibrate the use of external counsel since demand will usually outstrip total resources. The third is to introduce three key performance indicators (KPIs) to change priorities and behaviours in the use of external legal services.

"The Global Legal Department"
CCCA Magazine, Vol 3, No 2, Summer 2009

Globalization of business has resulted in the consolidation of corporate legal departments, often re-locating them outside of Canada. Five characteristics are proposed for “best-in-class” legal departments. Good alignment of the legal department with corporate priorities is likeliest when the top five priorities of the department are the same as the targets of the business units, at least 50% of the department's resources are dedicated to these priorities or to key projects, and when the department's annual plan is reduced to writing. A survey of CLOs from a select number of global law departments found that their two biggest challenges are to manage department workflow / workload and to reduce external legal expenses.

"Innovation in Legal Services - Doing More With Less"
Inside Counsel, Summer edition, 1997

Pressures faced by General Counsel within their organizations: the pressure to innovate, manage/reduce resources used to provide services; how external counsel can help legal departments deliver greater value to their organizations; suggestions on how General Counsel can demonstrate innovation and communicate its value to the organization.