Technology-led legal department of the future

Embedding technology into the legal department of the future

The role of in-house legal departments used to be clear: to render legal advice to the business on its transactions, with the law itself being the primary interest. But today’s businesses expect more from their in-house teams.

With C-level executives focusing their attention on geopolitical concerns, environmental, social and governance agendas, and digital transformation, the time is now for in-house legal departments to adapt and transform to broaden their traditional priorities, think about the bigger picture and deliver more value. Technology is a key contributor in doing so.

Embedding technology into the legal department of the future

The role of in-house legal departments used to be clear: to render legal advice to the business on its transactions, with the law itself being the primary interest. But today’s businesses expect more from their in-house teams.

With C-level executives focusing their attention on geopolitical concerns, environmental, social and governance agendas, and digital transformation, the time is now for in-house legal departments to adapt and transform to broaden their traditional priorities, think about the bigger picture and deliver more value. Technology is a key contributor in doing so.

The technology-led legal department of the future

A look at how technology can provide wide-ranging, integrated and data-backed solutions to legal departments globally, transforming the legal operating model of the future.

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Key insights

With C-level executives focused on economic viability, geopolitical concerns, environmental, social and governance agendas, and digital transformation, they are looking to their legal teams to broaden their priorities, think about the bigger picture and deliver more value.

To meet these new demands, in-house legal departments should focus beyond the execution of transactions, becoming more solutions oriented as they apply their knowledge of the law to their understanding of the business and its opportunities and challenges.

As e-commerce has transformed how and where we buy things, many businesses are demanding the same customer-centric service levels, the same transparency and the same wealth of data from their legal services providers.

While technology provides the foundation for transformed legal departments, it’s important to define in advance what capabilities those technologies should enable. Once these parameters are decided, the business should be ready to determine the best use of existing, adapted or new technologies to enable the new operating model.

Digitalization and standardization are crucial for handling high volumes of routine tasks so legal professionals have the time and the headspace to focus on more strategic work. Once all possible work has been delegated to a technology, legal teams can then work with it to derive business insights and value.