Extract from Jim Gill’s article “Operational Excellence Through Management of Corporate Legal Departments”
The legal department of an organization is responsible for providing crucial legal support and advice to the company’s various business operations. However, to operate efficiently, the legal department requires effective management in several areas, including project and program management, firm and vendor management, and financial management. Without proper management, the legal department may lack clarity, predictability, and accountability, leading to unexpected shortfalls and tensions within the business.
In part four of our five-part Legal Ops blog series, we’ll take a look at how to improve the management of your legal department.
Project / Program Management
Effective project and program management is critical to the success of any initiative within a legal department. However, many corporate legal departments lack the specialized program management skills and experience to implement effective initiatives at scale.
Corporate legal departments can achieve successful design, implementation, and leadership of department-wide and company-wide initiatives by staffing their program teams with trained project managers rather than lawyers. They must also design change management efforts that make the best use of their people and resources, engage and communicate with stakeholders across the company, and comply with corporate initiatives without compromising the quality or volume of ongoing work.
