Dentons Legal Operations Insights

There's no question that the past two years have been exhausting for us all, with law departments around the world really feeling the pressure. Workloads have increased and, for many, budgets have decreased and with COVID continuing to squeeze both personal and professional obligations, many are rethinking career goals and re-evaluating the meaning of work satisfaction. In this podcast, we connect with Kyla Sandwith, a fellow legal operations consultant and founder of De Novo, Inc who has a particular expertise in team engagement and talent development. Kyla shares her perspectives on how to spot an engagement issue, and how to address those challenges and keep people motivated – even in the absence of any formal authority.

As law department leaders around the world assess how their organizations and law departments will not only recover, but thrive, in the rapidly evolving environment of this pandemic, looking at how others who were on the front line earlier in reopening their economies and offices can help prepare you as we enter this New Dynamic. In this episode, we connect with Michael Paik, Executive Vice President, Legal Trade and Risk Management at SeAH Holdings Corp, a global steel manufacturer, based in South Korea as he shares the lessons they learned as a law department continuing to effectively support their business through this constant state of accelerating change.

Even as many regions around the world begin to loosen restrictions and consider their plans for reopening, the crisis remains and communication will remain paramount in importance. While the cadence and content may evolve, there are several key principles that will have continuing relevance as you communicate with your legal department, your business clients and other stakeholders. In this podcast, we connect with Nathan Miller, CEO of Miller Ink, who has guided numerous clients seeking to reorient their communication strategies, as he shares his three key principles for communication during a crisis.

In today's current environment, in-house teams are quickly focusing on reviewing their contracts for the force majeure provision – but for some that may mean balancing the sheer volume of inquiries from the business, while trying to get their arms around those contracts (where are they, how many, with whom). In this episode, we connect again with Lucy Bassli, who provides a few quick tips that corporate counsel can explore today to gain some control over the process.

In these incredibly challenging times, priorities are shifting rapidly and the processes with which we were all accustomed to are being tested daily. Over the course of the next several weeks, we will focus our discussions on providing practical operational tips, give you the confidence that your legal team is supported, prepared and working as efficiently and effectively as possible. In this episode, we connect with Lucy Bassli, formerly AGC, Legal Operations and Contracting at Microsoft, and discuss one thing you can do today to help manage the volume of requests coming in from the business.

Design thinking is becoming increasingly relevant in the legal industry and is being applied to how we practice law and deliver legal services. It is even being taught in law schools and universities around the world. In this episode, we connect with Jeffrey Marple, Director of Innovation for the Legal Group at Liberty Mutual Insurance as he shares how his legal team is using Design thinking to accelerate the transformation of their legal department.

With the 2019 CLOC Institute event in the rear-view mirror, we connect with Lucy Bassli, Deputy General Counsel of Legal Operations at Snowflake Computing and also Founder and Principal of Innolegal Services, to discuss the rise and relevance of legal operations from both an in-house and outside counsel perspective. Spoiler alert: We all need to stop using the expression “non-lawyer”!

How prepared is your organization for what some refer to as the “inevitable PR blowout”? In this episode we connect with Nathan Miller, Founder and President of Miller Ink, a member of the Nextlaw Public Affairs Network, as he shares his insights on how to keep calm and carry on in a public relations crisis.

We often hear from GCs leading small law departments that one of their greatest challenges is simply staying on top of the requests from the business. In this episode, we connect with Peter Nguyen, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Privacy Officer at Resolver as he explains how he and his team have designed a workflow solution to track and triage the requests from the business while, at the same time, removing the “black box” around their value and contributions.

Many law department leaders today are focused on repositioning their group from simply a provider of legal services and a cost center to a business enabler. One team in particular is on the leading edge of this approach. In this episode, we speak with Richard Stewart, Deputy General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer for the Office of the General Counsel at BMO Financial Group as he shares his insights and perspectives on running a law department like a business.

Law firm performance management has an increasingly important role to play in demonstrating law department value. James Beckett, CEO of Qualmet, was recently recognized as a Legal Rebel by the ABA Journal and shares with us his insights on how to drive greater performance from your law firms.

There is a significant justice gap between those who can afford access to legal services and those who need it and the legal industry is perfectly poised to fill this gap. Felicity Conrad, CEO of Paladin, highlights some of the key components to a successful in-house pro-bono program

We have all been ‘new' in organizations at one time or another. We know how important those first 100 days are and David Allgood, former EVP and General Counsel of the Royal Bank of Canada and the first Canadian Chair of the Association of Corporate Counsel walks us through his top tips for new GCs