Legal Department Positioning & Strategy

Effectiveness is the ultimate test of the legal department. Getting the plan right is the first step. There are roles ranging from operational to strategic which can be carried out. Our offerings include

	alignment with corporate and business unit plans
	3-year demand forecasts for legal services
	12 roles for legal departments
	annual business plans for the law department
	non-legal functions of the legal department

For further information on positioning the legal department and executing business strategy, contact Richard Stock at rstock@catalystlegal.com or (416)367-4447.

Articles on Positioning & Strategy

"Designing the Smaller Law Department"
Lexpert, Vol 11, No 2, November-December 2009

Five guiding "operating principles" are proposed for smaller law departments. The article details three hallmarks of noteworthy departments and seven characteristics of for the law department as a center of excellence. Suggestions are made on how a small department can improve its efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Finally, seven roles are proposed to better position the General Counsel as a strategic business advisor.

"Why Strategy Doesn't Work in Law Departments"
Lexpert, Vol 10, No 7, May 2009

Five factors which inhibit the execution of strategy are applied to law departments. They are executive leadership that is not mobilized, strategy that is not translated into operational terms, poor alignment with business units, strategy execution that is relegated to being someone else's job, and poor direction and communication on strategic goals.

"Re-evaluating Cost and Value"
Lexpert, Vol 10, No 4, February 2009

Workloads and pressured schedules inhibit many legal departments from addressing service delivery challenges posed by their business units. Few departments have introduced formal protocols to triage and turn back work from primary internal users, preferring instead to lengthen the queue and cater to unrealistic expectations for service from the legal department. CLOs must become more adept at collaborative budgeting of legal matters, communications, and volume management with their law firms. The article invites corporate counsel to intervene around three elements of the law firm business model: attrition, leverage and hourly billing.

"The Value Challenge"
Lexpert, Vol 10, No 7, May 2009

The components of the Value Challenge launched by the Association of Corporate Counsel in 2008 are discussed. The article suggests six elements essential to a sustainable relationship with law firms: 3-year demand forecasting for legal services, a new balance of in-sourced and referred work, non-financial expectations for law firms, formal requests for proposals (be they sole-sourced or competitive) from law firms, multi-year commitments for work volume and type to law firms, and the need for rigorous project and matter budgeting processes applied to legal work.

"SMART Rewards: the Contribution of the Law Department to Corporate Priorities"
CCCA Magazine, Vol 2, No 1, Spring 2008

Performance management programs patterned on a balanced scorecard architecture can be a valuable tool for a corporation and its legal department. The article suggests fives sets of inputs General Counsel should use to construct their department's performance plan: the corporate strategic plan, a critical success factor framework or checklist, a SMART test, specific initiatives, outcomes / targets and measures / indicators, and a program to develop the department's intellectual capital.

"Drawn and Quartered: The Municipal Law Department"
Lexpert, March 2006

Municipal mergers and population growth have generated more legal work for law firms. They have also created 5 challenges for municipal law departments: broad-based poorly defined roles and responsibilities, unclear accountability to political and administrative masters, a growing demand for commercial skill sets, failure to leverage long-term partnering arrangements with fewer law firms, and failure to use key performance indicators which matter.

"Redefining Expectations"
Lexpert, May 2004

For those departments that wish to show how to add value, the steps are defining a role and mandate within the organization, harnessing expertise to uncover new value, adopting a client service orientation and establishing benchmarks to measure success.

"Alignment for Effectiveness"
Lexpert, March 2003

High performance law departments are effective and not only efficient. They have four types of alignment targets: corporate priorities, CEO objectives, key business units, the priorities of the company's strategic business partners. Examples of targets for each of these are presented.

"Five Alignment Strategies for Insurance Clients"
Insurance Law News, February 2003

Law firms use five techniques to become better aligned with their insurance clients: law firm goals that are measureable for the insurer, communication initiatives, delegation, rigorous case planning and budgeting, and non-hourly based billing.