Accelerating Business: The Rise of Legal Operations Specialists
The legal operations specialists who use their technological knowhow to support companies’ in-house lawyers are the focus of this last instalment of the FT’s monthly Accelerating Business series for 2024.
Rosario Alonso
Head of the Legal Innovation Centre — Iberdrola
A hub set up last year to deal with contracts has become central to the Spain-based energy company’s overhaul of operations in its legal team.
Iberdrola’s legal innovation centre, led by Rosario Alonso, automates and digitises all parts of the contract process. Its remit includes storage, drafting, negotiating with suppliers, and electronic signatures relating to approximately 28,000 contracts a year. More than 5,000 people worldwide use it regularly.
Automating tasks and sharing data more efficiently has helped Iberdrola cut the time it takes to negotiate and sign contracts by more than a third. This is at least partly because "everyone [who] is in charge of the contract has the same information at the same time".
Antonello Gargano
Head of Legal and Compliance Operations, Strategy Execution, and Chief of Staff — ASML
The legal operations team at ASML has gone all-in with generative AI. The Dutch chipmaking-equipment supplier uses several AI tools, including those from legal AI start-up Harvey and Microsoft’s AI-powered assistant Copilot. Tasks range from answering queries about company policies to digging out information on legal contracts.
Some of ASML’s legal and compliance specialists have even begun to use Harvey for preparing for legal action, or assessing whether the company is complying with regulations, says Gargano.
Léo Murgel
Senior Vice-President, Office of Legal and Corporate Affairs — Salesforce
Salesforce, one of the world’s biggest business software companies, has used its own technology and AI tools to help its legal team increase productivity and cut spending on external services.
In the past 18 months, the company has automated routine tasks by using a variety of legal AI tools, explains Léo Murgel. For example, the team at the California-based company uses a legal research platform to summarise US data privacy regulations that Salesforce software must comply with, but which vary by state in the US. Salesforce also uses AI-powered software to translate its documentation.
Barbara Rogers
Vice-President, Legal Operations, Strategy, and Transformation — Honeywell
Honeywell, the US-based industrial conglomerate, with products ranging from thermostats to jet engines, embarked on a global project this year to connect up contract, financial, and customer data, to streamline its contracting process.
The core aim is to extract data from contracts in the company’s own management system, and then connect it to nearly 20 other IT systems, provided by several suppliers.
Petra Stirling
Director of Operations, Risk, and Transformation — Westpac Legal
In more than two decades of experience in professional services and financial services, Petra Stirling’s roles have often focused on taking a lead on innovation.
Her latest role includes planning and overseeing digital transformation at Westpac, one of Australia’s leading banks, where she is head of legal operations. She has led several innovative digital projects at the bank, most recently its rollout of generative AI for drafting and agreeing contracts from suppliers.
Conclusion
The legal operations specialists featured in this article are pioneers in the use of technology to support in-house lawyers. Their innovative approaches to automating tasks, using AI, and streamlining processes have resulted in significant productivity gains and cost savings for their companies.
FAQs
Q: What is the main goal of legal operations specialists?
A: The main goal of legal operations specialists is to support in-house lawyers by automating tasks, using AI, and streamlining processes to increase productivity and reduce costs.
Q: What are some examples of innovative approaches used by legal operations specialists?
A: Examples include automating routine tasks, using generative AI for drafting and agreeing contracts, and connecting up contract, financial, and customer data to streamline the contracting process.
Q: What are the benefits of using AI in legal operations?
A: The benefits of using AI in legal operations include increased productivity, reduced costs, and improved accuracy and efficiency in legal tasks.
Q: What is the role of legal operations specialists in the legal department?
A: The role of legal operations specialists is to support in-house lawyers by providing strategic guidance, managing legal operations, and implementing innovative solutions to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
