Change Management Issues for Corporate Legal Departments

Updated February 25, 2025 | Argopoint Consulting

why corporate legal departments require change management expertise

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Change management is one of the most challenging aspects of leading a corporate legal department. It involves encouraging individuals to let go of their current and established processes and adopt new ones. Legal professionals must be able to embrace change to fully implement new strategies, and communication between stakeholders is key to ensuring a successful transition. 

Legal department leaders often envision an ideal “end-state” for their team’s operations, but uprooting a department’s entire corporate structure, legal technology systems, and methodologies can prove to be a practical challenge. But a department’s ability to adapt to ambitious and sustainable change is key to long-term success, and Argopoint provides clients with the tools they need to achieve this. 

Fortune 500 companies have been employing conventional legal department change management techniques for decades, but these efforts have resulted in mixed results. Our experience suggests that two-thirds of major change efforts in the in-house corporate legal world typically fail in the first attempt, or meet significant pushback from stakeholders. Traditional change management techniques do not reliably work in sophisticated legal environments where employees are highly trained senior professionals. Argopoint works with its clients to customize creative new approaches that can ensure tangible, sustainable results in the transformation of corporate legal departments. 

executing successful change management initiatives

At Argopoint, our management consultants bring an innovative, sophisticated change mangement approach to corporate legal departments. Our methods are inspired by leading researchers in management theory, including senior members of Harvard Business School faculty. 

We understand that in-house legal departments need to make their desired changes to their own infrastructure with minimal disruptions to the business operations of the corporation. We work to empower legal departments and legal operations teams with change management strategies so they are positioned to handle changes both now and in the future. 

Our change management strategies for corporate legal departments include: 

• Forming a clear and concise plan for the future while remaining realistic about how much is feasible in a limited timeframe 

• Mobilizing the organization in a structured, predictable way, effectively preparing attorneys to handle change in the long run 

• Sustaining change by creating opportunities for ongoing personal development and training 

• Maintaining open and effective channels of communication throughout the change efforts 

Argopoint has experience with effectively guiding clients past common obstacles in change management, with both operational and people-oriented initiatives. 

Key Questions to consider

1. Has your legal department faced changes in structure recently, such as division mergers?

2. Has your department faced changes in corporate legal strategy recently, such as changes in the allocation of work between in-house and outside counsel? Are you anticipating further changes in the future? 

3. Is your legal department undergoing implementation of new legal technology recently, such as shifting to new hosting or document review platforms? Are you anticipating additional changes to legal technology in the future? 

4. Has your legal department ever had difficulty communicating change to your in-house legal department or legal operations team members?

5. Are you anticipating more changes in the future?

6. How do you approach the leadership challenges and maintain the motivation of professionals in the law department?

7. How can you ensure that the results of the change initiative will be long-lasting, sustainable, and effective?