Stick with it

It’s probably a bit too soon to be talking about the ‘rise’ of legal operations within law firms. As far as Briefing is aware, only a couple of firms within our audience have formally badged departments this way in almost as many months.

On the other hand, perhaps it’s a little late. While the financial crisis may have led never-hasty legal to make a gearchange, firms have been talking about getting ‘closer to their clients’ for a long time. Basic client service led to client listening, to key client programmes – via client relationship management, of course – to client value programmes, client collaboration, client collaboration hubs, and moves into a fairly broad spectrum of client consultancy.

Of course, the idea of legal ops specifically is responding to the rather more remarkable rise of that particular phrase on the buy-side. The world of the in-house legal function – in many cases, taking on and managing a lot more work for itself – is becoming a lot more complicated than in the days of humdrum client service.

ALWAYS BE CLOSING IN

Although most law firms would describe themselves as ‘client-focused’, a small number are now pursuing that value into a world of tangible activities that get right under clients’ skin. Josh Adcock reports on the rise of legal operations functions and other initiatives that may help make your client relationships stick.

SPORT IN THE ACT

From data-backed productivity gains to the customer mindset and empowering workforce diversity, Alex Hatchman, chief operating officer at Fletchers, talks to Richard Brent about her commitment to continuous improvement, as well as forging a whole new layer of leadership for the firm.

STICKINESS SITUATIONS

The pressure to make your firm stand out as the one the client should be doing business with continues to be significant. Differentiating the delivery of data could be the key to forming those longer-lasting client relationships, says Mike Walker, chief technology officer at Peppermint Technology.