Legal Department INNOVATION: Overview

Modern legal departments can face a growing number of pressures, from cutting costs and enhancing efficiency, to adopting new approaches to risk management and keeping pace with the evolution of the business.

To meet these demands, the highest-impact legal departments adopt of an attitude of innovation and adaptability. These departments recognize that success will be determined not only by the quality and integrity of their work, but also by their ability to respond to the perpetually changing business environments in which they operate. Effective legal departments must embrace a culture of creative problem-solving and innovation, encouraging the generation of new ideas within the department while remaining effective service providers for their clients.

Argopoint provides a range of services to support legal department innovation initiatives, including organizational and technology assessments, best-in-class benchmarking, organizational and process designs, and implementation.

Legal Department Transformation: Approach

Legal department “innovation” can take many forms, but the most successful innovation initiatives generally focus on key areas where tangible, actionable improvements can be piloted and implemented. These key areas often include:

• Use of outside counsel and external resources

• Processes for low-risk, high-volume work (e.g., contracts)

• Use of legal technology

• Department organizational structure

Innovation in these areas is most achievable when structured into formal projects with well-defined phases and activities. These activities may include:

• Performing a hard-hitting internal diagnostic and assessment

• Gathering input from stakeholders and best-in-class benchmarks

• Creating a compelling vision for change

• Identifying the "must have" supporting initiatives

• Carving out meaningful change-agent roles

• Building a winning coalition of supporters

• Measuring and monitoring progress

To drive a true legal department’s metamorphosis into an ideal “Future State” it is important to first gain a complete understanding of the department’s “Current State.”  An initial department assessment is a custom-tailored process for each individual department, designed to candidly evaluate departmental strengths and opportunities.

 LEGAL DEPARTMENT Innovation: SOLUTIONS

Argopoint-supported legal department innovation and change programs take many forms, from intense, targeted improvements to broad design of new processes, approaches, and “ways of working.” Argopoint’s solutions are tailored to our client’s specific needs. In all cases, legal department innovation initiatives are only effective when structured in a pragmatic, actionable way. Argopoint helps by framing your department’s ambitions and organizing priorities to provide a “launchpad” for additional activities. Once we develop a roadmap for an innovation initiative, Argopoint executes to keeps the complex elements of our project aligned and on schedule. 

Argopoint helps legal department leaders set and execute their strategic vision of legal department innovation, dramatically improving the performance of their in-house legal organizations.