Jul 15
17
JDHunter – July 2015 Blog – 10 Key Business Objectives for Corporate Legal Departments
Looking for the ideal in-house job or just checking the job market? We can help. JDHuntr In-House Jobs is a job board for attorneys looking to go in-house. Corporate employers are urgently recruiting attorneys at all levels of experience. Visit JDHuntr today and take control of your search for the ideal job. We do not list jobs from 3rd party legal recruiters. Please visit JDHuntr today to browse hundreds of in-house jobs.
JDHunter – July 2015 Blog
(You are invited to share your comments on this subject below)
Article by Catherine Ho of The Washington Post
10 Key Business Objectives for Corporate Legal Departments
URL: http://www.eteraconsulting.com/12/05/10-key-business-objectives-corporate-legal-departments
Excerpt:
What every good corporate legal department strives for – 10 critical business objectives:
- Cost Certainties and ROI
- Greater Command and Control of Information and Data
- Enhanced Decision Making Abilities
- Greater Centralization and Efficiencies of Legal Operations
- Effective Tools, Reporting Systems and Metrics
- Secure Information and Data
- Technology Excellence
- Effective Human Capital Management
- Repeatable, Measurable and Defensible Processes – Legal Project Management
- Trusted Strategic Business Partners
In managing corporate legal departments, you have to understand the unique environment in which they operate to achieve key business objectives:
- The general counsel typically reports to the company CEO or president. The general counsel has a high degree of accountability and visibility within the company. Internal relationships and alliances are critical to achieve success.
- The general counsel will usually oversee all legal and external affairs matters including litigation, investigations, compliance, mergers and acquisitions, contract matters and international trade issues. The general counsel is also likely to oversee the activities of the Washington, DC office encompassing legislative, regulatory, administrative and policy matters. Yes, a very full plate of risks, threats and issues to deal with.
- The legal department is a business unit inside the corporation with its own mission, goals, objectives and budget. However, the legal department is a non-revenue generator and must continually demonstrate how it adds-value within the company through the use of reports, tools and key metrics.
- The legal department must interact with internal clients and departments (such as IT and procurement), C level executives, subject matter experts, regional and overseas offices, outside counsel, consultants, and government and regulatory bodies. Yes, several key stakeholders that must be managed.
- The legal department must be joined at the hip with the IT department to manage the costs, complexities and challenges of electronically stored information and electronic discovery matters.
- The legal department will very often have to manage headcount problems, budget issues, work flow peaks and valleys, and competing internal departmental interests.
- The legal department must have relevant and timely information and data to make informed business and legal decisions while focus on mitigating risks. The general counsel is the protector of the company.
- The legal department strives for proactive processes that are repeatable, measurable and defensible. However, the legal department must very often manage in a reactive mode to handle crisis situations including new law suits, government investigations and bad news.
- While a number of analogies can be used, the corporate legal department operates like an air traffic control system. Yes, lots of balls to keep up in the air and you never know when disaster will strike requiring the deployment of legal swat-teams.
Please feel free to share your comments on the referenced article. Was it helpful to you? Do you agree or disagree with the conclusions? Do you have personal experiences relating to this topic that you would like to share in a comment?
Thank you.
Blog Admin
JDHunter
