15 May 2017
This piece in Law.com tell us there’s a new ed on the way
The future of legal departments will depend on the increasingly important roles of legal operations directors and chief operating officers of legal departments, according to author Richard Susskind, who has written several books on the future of legal and professional services.
Susskind, a lawyer and visiting professor at the University of Oxford, will be speaking at the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium annual institute from May 9 to 11 about his book “Tomorrow’s Lawyers: An Introduction to Your Future.” The book, first published in 2013, is launching in its second edition at the institute.
He recently spoke with reporter David Ruiz about what’s next for legal operations, technology solutions of the future and why, in his view, the head of legal operations will play an important role in the development of legal services.
David Ruiz: What is the biggest emerging trend you’ve seen in legal operations in the past few years?
Richard Susskind: The emergence of the chief operating officer, the director of legal operations, a whole bundle of different titles…. The recognition that operations, innovation, technology and procurement should actually be the responsibility of an identifiable individual, rather than part of the portfolio of the general counsel. I regard the chief operating officers [of legal], as a consortium, as a community, [as] more influential than the rather scattered community of GCs that we had three or four years ago [handling legal operations for their companies].
… Another trend I’ve seen amongst these chief operating officers is the recognition that even in the world’s most complex deals and disputes, even in the highest-value legal matters, when you break down these matters into identifiable tasks, you find that a lot of the tasks involved are actually themselves quite routine and repetitive. That’s where the real savings are to be made. Routine work comes in two shapes and sizes. It’s high volume, low value, and it’s also the elements of complex work that can be taken out and done differently.
