Legal Ops and Law Departments Left in the Dark on Strategic Decisions

As the roles of the legal department and Legal Ops are taking on more significance within the business, there has been a shift to a proactive strategic approach on the part of legal. They have taken on a holistic view of their business planning. The goal is to prioritize corporate imperatives and align with the needs of business stakeholders.

This goal, however, has met with roadblocks, as revealed in a new report jointly published by Everlaw and the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), according to a press release on PR Newswire.

The report, The State of Collaboration in Corporate Legal Departments, was released at the ACC 2023 Annual Meeting in San Antonio on October 23, 2023. The survey respondents included 373 chief legal officers, general counsel, other in-house counsel and legal operations professionals from U.S. corporate law departments.

Nearly half of respondents say they get engaged only after strategic decisions have been made, limiting their ability to provide strategic advice.

Thirty-three percent say they need new technology to centralize data and collaborate more efficiently, and 71 percent say that a lack of bandwidth for process improvements is the main obstacle to stronger collaboration.

“In-house legal teams have made great strides to improve internal and external collaboration in their organizations, but there is clearly a long way to go,” said Blake Garcia, senior director of business intelligence at ACC.

“Legal teams continue to be seen as roadblocks on projects and nearly half reported they are consulted too late in strategic corporate decisions. With legal teams’ responsibilities increasing, yet continually being asked to do more with less, technology adoption is likely the most efficient way teams can improve communications with every corner of the organization,” he added.