Legal Department Transformation: Overview

Law department transformations are underway at many of the world's leading legal departments - and are becoming a hallmark of "best-in-class" in-house legal organizations.

With increased external demands on departments coupled with internal cost pressures - business as usual doesn't cut it.  When a strategic re-thinking is called for - legal department transformation can be decisive. Transformation is the management approach to deconstructing and reimagining how a in-house legal organization works.  

It is a real opportunity for  legal to break free of stereotypes. Instead, it can set a new paradigm as a trusted advisor and key ally for business stakeholders to achieve critical corporate goals. In this climate, transformation can be the mechanism to ensure legal departments are making absolute best use of all their available assets.   

Legal Department Transformation: Approach

"Transformation" can mean many things to many people.  Argopoint thinks of it in the most literal sense: a cross-legal department effort to alter the financial, operational and strategic role of the in-house legal department, with an explicit "north star" of producing game-changing results.

In our experience, successful legal department transformations typically follow a planned process, which consists of:   

• Performing a hard-hitting internal diagnostic and assessment

• Gathering external 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 - departmental strengths and weaknesses must be candidly assessed.

 LEGAL DEPARTMENT TRANSFORMATION: SOLUTIONS

Argopoint has supported legal department transformation and change programs that take many forms, from intense, targeted improvements and restructurings to full-scale "turnarounds", depending on a legal departments needs.  In all cases, for  legal department transformation to work, it must be highly pragmatic. Argopoint helps by framing the ambition, mapping the transformation plan, and organizing the priorities to getting started.  Then Argopoint executes to keeps the complex moving parts aligned and on schedule.  

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