Please enjoy this blog authored by Kristin Burke, Lead Legal Operations Analyst, UKG Inc.
If you are like most modern legal departments, you may be feeling the pressure to do more with less—including managing a higher demand for Legal’s input due to increasing compliance regulations. While it may seem like the logical answer to juggling higher demand is an increase in headcount, for most teams it is not an option.
In reality, increased headcount doesn’t always solve the problem; in many situations, it can exacerbate them. The solution may be something much more within your budget and control – efficient processes and well-designed workflows that ensure that when the business needs Legal, they get to the right person the first time.
Where to Begin
Select an existing process that is currently a pain point on your team and gather a small group of users to define key pieces of information, including:
• Who is responsible for handling the request (one person vs. a team, is there an escalation path?)
• How they currently receive the request (are they receiving direct emails, Teams/Slack messages, do colleagues send them to shared mailboxes, etc)
• How the request is processed, step by step
• Whether the requests are currently tracked
• What success looks like
After mapping the current process, go through each step with the group to identify steps that were missed in the original mapping, as well as any bottlenecks. Work to simplify the process by eliminating unnecessary steps, streamlining decision points, and reducing unnecessary escalations. Once the process has been refined, map out the new process to ensure nothing has been overlooked.
Process improvement does not need to include a large scale implementation of technology. It can be as simple as eliminating unnecessary steps, improving communication between parties, and creating a consistent experience for everyone.
Technology Implementation
If the process you’re optimizing will include a technology implementation (such as a formal intake process), it is critical to first have a well-documented process that has gone through the above steps before building a solution. Adding technology to a poorly designed process will not enhance it. Instead, it often results in more frustration, leading users to eventually abandon the technology and revert to old ways.
The following steps can help drive a successful, widely-adopted transition.
Metrics & KPIs
Clearly defined metrics are critical to a successful implementation. Before designing an intake system, the team responsible for handling the requests should outline everything they wish to measure beyond typical metrics such as turnaround time, reassignment counts, or volume. For example, when building an intake workflow for Gifts & Hospitality Requests, ask for specific questions the team wants answered.
Responses included questions such as Who are the top five most generous users in the company?, How often are we gifting items in the middle of a pending deal?, What is the average amount of the gift, per industry? and How much did we approve to give to users in the public sector last year?
Gathering these questions prior to the design phase helps ensure that the right information is collected at intake, which will help facilitate better adoption and quicker turnaround time.
Incorporating Automation
Examine your improved process for areas to incorporate automation. In the Gifts & Hospitality example, the team may define specific situations where the system would auto-approve requests that did not need legal oversight due to the low risk—situations where the amount requested was below a certain amount, was not for someone in the public sector, and did not have a pending deal. This will reduce the volume of requests that come to Legal and give users immediate approval for low risk requests.
Communication Plans
Having a strong comms plan is vital to a successful rollout of a formal process, especially one that features new technology. This should include the typical communications to relevant users, as well as non-typical mass communications geared to rewarding users. When going live with a new intake system, consider creating a scavenger hunt with clues that can only be found by reading articles within a relevant knowledge base.
Continuous Improvement
After establishing the new process, regroup with the original team to review how the implementation went and determine if any tweaks need to be made to ensure continued success. Document what worked well (and what didn’t) to help inform future implementations.
Ultimately, well-designed legal workflows are about doing the right work, more efficiently and transparently. By starting with clear processes, aligning stakeholders, and thoughtfully applying technology and automation, legal teams can reduce friction, improve accountability, and better support the business without adding headcount. The result is a legal team that is positioned as a strategic partner rather than a bottleneck.
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