Resource Listings

A study of the state of maturity among in-house legal departments across 15 legal operations functions.

Not letting its small size impede its innovation, Fir Tree has streamlined its legal operations by using many of the same processes and technology solutions adopted by large corporate law departments. Using the ACC Legal Operations Maturity Model as a roadmap, the team targeted legacy pain-points and leveraged data, alternative legal service providers and ingenuity to add tech solutions.

Suite of vendor reports includes Spend, Invoices, Operations and Matter-specific dashboards (includes total spend, discounts, staffing ratios, diversity, with breakdowns by vendor, matters, budget category, etc.)

Fir Tree Partners Legal Operations Project Background and Pillars of Success

This North American energy company decided that innovation was needed to be nimbler in the delivery of jurisdictional licensing opinions to its engineers. TC Energy engaged (past Champion) Shook, Hardy & Bacon to design a secure, scalable, easy-to-use online tool that is accessible around-the-clock.

To keep up with a rapidly growing $10B+ business, VMware Legal needed to scale how they operated. To redefine the way they worked, and to elevate their value, they focused on three core areas: (i) taking their technology and data analytics strategy to the next level; (ii) expanding their outsourcing and insourcing capabilities; and (iii) building a team with diverse skills, competencies, and talents.

To keep up with a rapidly growing $10B+ business, VMware Legal needed to scale how they operated. To redefine the way they worked, and to elevate their value, they focused on three core areas: (i) taking their technology and data analytics strategy to the next level; (ii) expanding their outsourcing and insourcing capabilities; and (iii) building a team with diverse skills, competencies, and talents.

To keep up with a rapidly growing $10B+ business, VMware Legal needed to scale how they operated. To redefine the way they worked, and to elevate their value, they focused on three core areas: (i) taking their technology and data analytics strategy to the next level; (ii) expanding their outsourcing and insourcing capabilities; and (iii) building a team with diverse skills, competencies, and talents.

New Employee On-Boarding Checklist

Project Management Best Practices Checklist (LibertyMutual)

Legal Operations is the function within the office of the general counsel that takes responsibility for efficient and effective delivery of legal services for the corporation.

In-house counsel often have to juggle contract review, fast turnarounds, and risk management in their day-to-day activities. In this Quick Overview, member author Alex D. Gonzalez Esq. discusses how a busy in-house counsel can deal with an urgent contract review request and maintain company efficiency.

As Chief Legal Officer, how can you help your organization build trust, especially during a time of crisis? In this article, learn more about how you can increase focus on social good, support the safety of your employees and stakeholders, and engage in proactive policies that will support staff while working remotely.

Of all the key areas in which law department leaders self-graded their overall maturity and development in the recent ACC Benchmarking report, Innovation Management ranked last. How can law departments create a culture of innovation and creativity, let it thrive, and keep that culture alive? Chief legal officers (“CLO”) set the tone for their teams through how leadership approaches, how they hire, retain and promote, and, finally, the behaviors they incentivize. Explore key takeaways below from ACC’s virtual CLO roundtable on 23 July 2020.

ACC Australia's profiles of women in-house counsel celebrates and showcases their extraordinary journeys. In this article, our members share their personal and professional growth, challenges they faced, and "advice to their younger self", learning from growing.

During a crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic, the principles of good communication remain the same: values matter and communicate with your stakeholders.

The recently published report from the survey conducted by Polish law firm Wierciński, Kwieciński, Baehr Sp.k. (WKB) in cooperation with the Polish Association of General Counsel (the “Report”) provides useful insight into key compliance trends in Poland. In this Quick Overview, learn more about how compliance programs are viewed and internalized in Poland.

In a time where social justice issues are attracting greater awareness, it is important to recognise how in-house counsel area uniquely positioned to guide their organisations in supporting these important issues.

How should in-house counsel deal with new work from home policies due to the Covid-19 Pandemic? In this article, learn skills and takeaways for discussions with you team.

The advent of new technology, staffing models, and legal operations strategy is driving profound change and disruption in the way in-house teams are delivering legal services for their organisations. Just as the global in-house sector is rapidly evolving, the Japanese in-house sector too is experiencing immense change.

In this Quick Overview, learn more about how Japanese Chief Legal Officers (CLOs) and their companies are dealing with these changes.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters are of high importance during the pandemic. In this article, in-house counsel can learn more about how to spotlight these initiatives and shift these issue from a "compliance" issue to a "commercial issue" within their companies.

Positive team meetings are not an oxymoron. In this article, learn how small and consistent practices can help you and your team thrive.

Good business and good lawyering is more than just about making money. In this article, in-house counsel can learn about a peculiar start-up and how they made their mission a success.

Conflict, which is a positive by-product of diversity, must be expected and welcomed in today’s innovative, diverse workplace. Diversity of thought is increased in the more diverse workplace, and while most Australian companies look for ways to increase diversity, they may struggle if the inherent conflicts get out of hand.

This article appears in the Australian Corporate Lawyer, Volume 30, Issue 1 - Autumn 2020

Learn about key concerns and new issues affecting the world in 2020.

This article appeared in the Australian Corporate Lawyer Volume 30, Issue 1 - Autumn 2020

This list has 10 considerations for employers to keep in mind from the perspectives of employment law, employee safety and health, and labor-management relations when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccines.

It’s OK to not be OK, but then what? There are many dimensions to well-being, including emotional, intellectual, occupational, physical, spiritual and social. Endurance athletes use specific techniques to build emotional and mental muscle around their physical muscle, and enhance their performance. Below are tips we can use to apply the same concepts to enhance our well-being and effectiveness as in-house counsel.

Law departments are desperate to leverage technology that will help them improve processes with automation, and ultimately speed up their workflow. Unfortunately, without the right solutions in place, attempts at collaboration are leading to groups of people having incorrect access to sensitive information. Find out what you could be risking.

In this Top Ten, find tips to unleash leadership potential and transform yourself and others into an inspirational legal leader.