Ervaring
For many years legal departments were mainly dealing with many (more or less) legal issues. Nowadays they are confronted by a broad variety of many more but strictly legal issues, which companies expect them all to address with swift prudence. This is one good reason to design a legal services map and to also bridge the gap between business it’s expectations and the legal department's proposition.
Approach
In my first blog I stressed the importance of a step by step approach and suggested the following steps to undertake:
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1. Align with the company’s strategy |
4. Perform an assessment of today’s legal function |
To design a services map that actually works and add greater value the legal department first needs to be aligned with the company’s strategy as I wrote in my previous blog.
It is not about the looks, but how well it works
What does a service delivery model for a legal department looks like? It is a legitimate but not the right question. To design a legal services map that works, it must be build upon the outcome of a risk assessment, the identification of the company’s needs and how best to provide legal expertise. General Counsel often assume that the latest in legaltech will bridge the gap between business it’s expectations and the legal department it’s proposition. Unfortunately, without taking a hard look at responsibilities and how well you address your company’s needs, software solutions will not work. And the map itself?
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Legal Services Map |
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Entity |
Legal Counsel per business line |
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Company Group |
[name] |
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Holding |
[name] |
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Business I |
[name] |
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Business II |
[name] |
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Business III |
[name] |
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Themes and programs [year] |
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heme or program |
Legal |
Risk |
Compliance |
Financial |
IT |
Other |
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GDPR |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
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Regulatory |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
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Corporate Governance Code |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
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IP |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
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IT |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
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Tax |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
[name] |
If it’s legal, the service must be good; right?
For business, as non-lawyers, the level of legal expertise is a given. To make a difference it is not good enough to simply offer legal expertise. Internal clients will judge your services mainly on performance indicators like turnaround time; usability, meaning the way lawyers relate to business colleagues; accessibility, meaning how understandable and jargon-free the advice is; the extent to which the legal services enables business and it’s cost-effectiveness.
