With the 2017 Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC) Institute just around the corner, leaders in legal operations are gearing up to spend three days sharpening their legal swords and networking among industry thought leaders. HBR is proud to be a Platinum sponsor and I look forward to seeing many of our clients, partners and friends there.
The CLOC was founded in 2016 to better share knowledge and best practices among legal operations professionals. The organization allows professionals to network and discuss challenges. Since its inception, CLOC has grown rapidly, having hosted several successful meetings, including the 2016 CLOC Institute in San Francisco.
At the end of February, I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural CLOC Europe meeting, which took place at British Telecom’s offices in London. Twenty-five leaders of European law departments gathered for the first of four 2017 roundtables to discuss common operational and management challenges for in-house legal departments. The goal was to mirror the success of CLOC in the U.S. and bring legal operations professionals together, share best practices, and drive positive change across the corporate legal operations ecosystem. As we did at the 2016 Institute, HBR conducted a live survey to assess attendees’ maturity around CLOC’s 12 legal operations core competencies, co-created with fellow ecosystem members Jeff Franke and Pratik Patel.
Here are three key takeaways gleaned from the survey results at CLOC Europe:
Knowledge management tools are no longer just “nice to have.” In fact, our 2016 Law Department survey found 25 percent of law departments are looking to implement a document management system in the next one to two years. These tools enable efficiencies by creating seamless access to legal and institutional knowledge, as well as centralize key templates, policies, processes, memos, and other learnings. True knowledge management, however, is as much a cultural challenge as it is a technological one. While sophisticated technology to capture the information is a critical foundation, the relative immaturity of knowledge management as a discipline is likely due to the significant change management considerations and individual accountability required.
Similarly, forward looking law departments are aiming to improve their data analytics capabilities. While 39 percent of law departments currently have spend analytics technology, another 24 percent are looking to implement the technology in the next one to two years, according to our Law Department survey. Data analytics platforms pull data from various department tools and industry sources to provide a ‘single pane of glass’ view of the department. This in turn allows operations professionals to drive efficiencies and optimize spend. The growth of artificial intelligence (AI) technology will continue to expand the opportunities around data analytics.
As law departments, both in the U.S. and Europe attempt to optimize their legal service delivery models, legal operations professionals should focus on improving their strategic planning, vendor management programs, knowledge management and data analytics capabilities.
For those interested in a deeper dive into the CLOC Core Competencies, plan to attend HBR’s workshop on Tuesday, May 9 at the CLOC Institute: “Architecting Operational Excellence – Blueprints for Success.”