How some legal teams are saving money, keeping talent and integrating AI

Tighter budgets have made retaining in-house lawyers difficult but C-suite executives tend to be willing to fund efficiency-oriented AI tools, legal operations leaders say.

By Justin Bachman • Aug. 23, 2024

PlanSource’s new GC talks risk and how she thinks about AI in legal ops

The employee benefits administrator hired Jenny Zador this summer to help build its legal team and position the company for future growth.

By Justin Bachman • Aug. 22, 2024

How mentorships can be a path to stronger firm-client relationships

Programs that bring the law firm and the in-house team together can boost career development for young lawyers and lead to better outcomes for the general counsel. 

By Brad Vynalek and Cornell Boggs • Aug. 16, 2024

Intake process called key to measuring legal team value

By creating a system for how work gets to in-house attorneys, general counsel can show how much the team contributes to company revenue, a legal operations specialist says. 

By Robert Freedman • Aug. 16, 2024

AI for Legal: 5 tips to help integrate these new tools

In-house legal departments adopting GenAI software must consider several issues around its value, senior leaders’ positions, data integrity and cultural changes.

By Justin Bachman • Aug. 15, 2024

Gen AI is reporting for work duty but who’s in charge of it?

Executives recognize the potential for generative AI in their business operations, but chief legal officers say organizational roles and responsibilities aren’t clear.

By Justin Bachman • Aug. 13, 2024

Lawyers and legal ops teams are clashing at many companies: study

Power dynamics and office politics are blamed for this internal strife, which was found to be common at U.S. companies with legal operations roles.

By Justin Bachman • July 31, 2024

Taking a page from procurement to curb outside counsel spend

Buying legal services isn’t so different from other transactions that it can’t be done strategically, a legal operations consultant says.

By Robert Freedman • July 26, 2024

How GCs can use data to demonstrate their teams’ value

Understanding your legal staff’s work patterns at a more detailed level can offer insights that help change perceptions of legal as purely a cost center.

By Justin Bachman • July 17, 2024

Slowing a rise in costs is enough for this legal chief

The head of a big in-house legal team is waiting to see if his investment in technology and operations staff will give him the results he’s looking for.

By Robert Freedman • July 17, 2024

Cyber insurance prices fall amid rising competition: report

The pricing relief comes even as cyberattacks are escalating and businesses are paying more to recover from them.

By Alexei Alexis • July 2, 2024

AI software use growing among in-house legal departments: report

Artificial intelligence remains a small newcomer in the legal tech toolbox but ‘dramatic growth’ is forecast, according to an in-house counsel survey.

By Justin Bachman • June 27, 2024

Don’t call your business colleagues ‘clients,’ GC says

Doing so reinforces the idea that in-house legal isn’t part of the team, says a veteran corporate counsel.

By Robert Freedman • June 17, 2024

As GCs focus on risk, legal operations grow in importance

A dedicated legal ops role is seen as integral to freeing up the energy of in-house legal leaders, a report indicates.

By Robert Freedman • June 5, 2024

In-house legal conferences for the second half of 2024

Legal Dive’s list of conferences can help corporate counsel learn where to go for the latest on technology, operations and the law. 

By Robert Freedman • June 4, 2024

Managing risk by framing it as a business problem

Counsel hurt themselves by trying to get executives to pay attention solely to legal concerns, says an in-house specialist. 

By Robert Freedman • June 3, 2024

Company touts remnant assets as a cash generator for GCs

Older, larger companies with lots of M&A behind them tend to have an extensive portfolio of assets lying dormant that are ripe for monetization, executives at an asset buyer say.

By Robert Freedman • May 28, 2024

Taking the pulse on the IPO landscape: Part 2

Revisiting a conversation between Broadridge’s Jennifer Flynn and Cooley’s Yvan-Claude Pierre.

May 6, 2024

Taking the pulse on the IPO landscape: Part 1

A conversation between Broadridge’s Jennifer Flynn and Cooley’s Yvan-Claude Pierre.

April 29, 2024

Top 10 pet peeves for in-house litigation counsel

Budget surprises, a failure to communicate at inflection points and vague billing entries are among the outside counsel practices that make life hard for in-house litigation counsel.   

By Joshua Stein • April 19, 2024

How companies use in-house legal to boost business

Liberty Mutual and Wayfair have leveraged investments by their legal departments to help the company attract and keep more customers. 

By Robert Freedman • April 11, 2024

Latitude Legal hires Alex Su to help fuel growth

The flexible talent provider is hoping the well-known legal professional can raise awareness about the company’s offerings for legal departments and law firms.

By Lyle Moran • April 2, 2024

How general counsel are keeping core legal work in-house

Technology and alternative legal service providers can help, but it’s also important to hand off low-level work to other functional areas within the organization, say legal leaders.

By Robert Freedman • April 1, 2024

How general counsel can create an integrity mindset in the executive team

Success makes business leaders more susceptible to rationalizations, so the key is to make ethics top of mind before a compromising situation occurs, a legal leader says.

By Robert Freedman • March 18, 2024

Alternative legal services provider Proxiio launches US operations

The company headquartered in India specializes in managed review, litigation and investigation services, including e-discovery and compliance management.

By Lyle Moran • March 13, 2024