Blog Post

What Does Innovation Mean For In-House Legal Teams?

June 12, 2017

A series of blogs by Exigent’s COO on how lawyers can jump the curve


In the very last session at The Lawyer Conference in London last week, a panel of in-house GCs discussed innovation and disruption in the legal industry. After brief introductions, Bruce Macmillan, from the Centre for Legal Leadership and chair of the panel, asked the audience if they knew what innovation meant for the in-house legal department.  A brief pause and quick scan of the audience was met with dead silence … and a show of one.  Disturbingly, the single hand belonged to the only non-lawyer in the room – me!  Slightly amused by this, Bruce posed the second question: “Who knows what disruption means for the in-house legal department?”  The response this time was immediate and a 100% improvement. My show of hand was accompanied by one other.

As someone with an insatiable appetite for innovation and a natural tendency to disrupt, I thought a few words on my perspective as food for thought, might be well received.

From the conference, the take out for me is that GCs feel they are the Cinderella to the corporate ugly sisters; victims of their own diligence and moral compass; misunderstood and rarely afforded any quarter (read ‘budget’).

As a COO who mentors and works alongside upwards of 20 lawyers on a daily basis, I can honestly say that if any of our lawyers were not able to articulate what innovation meant to them or our business, I too would be inclined to confine them to the proverbial kitchen.

However, in my world, that is not the case.  To remain competitive, relevant and energised, a business needs to continually improve (read ‘change’); to collaborate (add ‘novel thinking’) and be transparent (remove silos).  To achieve this, the bravest and brightest should lead that charge. I have little doubt that lawyers fall into the latter category – ‘brightest’. However, brave does not spring to mind when I recall what GCs were saying at the conference. Like any other profession in this ever-evolving business world, lawyers too need to jump the curve and, as Charles Hardy would put it, break “old patterns of thinking and behaving”, question convention and be prepared to alienate their peers.

What does this look like? I will be exploring how lawyers can embrace a new way of thinking and working in a series of blogs that will tackle how to break the mould in the legal industry. Here are the three main obstacles lawyers face:

  1. Limited or no use of technology

GCs must move away from the notion of technology being a threat. It’s an asset; technology will not and should not replace a lawyer. It will do the heavy lifting and allow legal professionals to focus on what they do best – critical thinking.

  1. Stubbornly refusing to do things differently

At The Lawyer event, 71% of GCs said they are not looking to alternative delivery models. But how are you supposed to get different results if you keep on doing things the same old way? Allowing an Alternative Business Structure (ABS) on a panel or having a wage arbitrage strategy would allow legal teams to focus on high-value outcomes, leaving everything else to other entities that are configured for efficient commoditized work. Disaggregation is still relevant.

  1. No tech partner or strategy

Big companies know that they can’t do it all themselves. Even Apple partner with different manufacturing companies to deliver the best results. GCs could do the same: you know about the law, let tech experts deal with the details of your desired outcome. Find a partner that can take you and/or follow you on your journey. Your tech partner should be one that has the appropriate domain knowledge and whose aspirations are aligned with yours.

Addressing the above would allow you to jump a curve or two. Think of it like this: if external law firms are Legal 1.0, then in-house is Legal 2.0. What corporates are looking for is efficient, effective, accessible legal, risk, compliance and governance that is ubiquitous, meaningful and understood as well as available to everyone. That is legal 3.0 – three curves away and only possible if a lawyer takes responsibility and embraces innovation to disrupt the status quo.

Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.” – Winston Churchill


Wayne Ramsay is Exigent’s Chief Operating Officer. With a reputation as an enabler for change within the global legal services space, Wayne manages business risk and executes transformational projects globally across the entire business.

His blogs on ‘Innovation for GCs’ will be published on a regular basis. Sign up today (use form on the right) to receive the next blog in your inbox as soon as it’s published.