Write up on designing and managing demand for legal contracting

Case study: 

LEX360 has helped GC’s tackle demand management initiatives in response to changing business requirements, lack of capacity issues or a means to deliver a new operating model due to costs pressures. 

The example below is ‘our methodology’ that we used with a private equity owned business that wanted to change the way it was contracting (federated – delivered by the business to centralised – delivered by the legal function in a new near shore function). 

Opportunity Analysis 

The business identified that globally contract management was being completed by the finance directors and not lawyers. This was impacting on standardisation of service, variance to approach (price and other commercial concessions) on global clients, risk exposure and speed to contract. 

LEX was engaged and together with the project team we recruited and established a new team of 11 lawyers delivering modern contracting legal function. This function needed to have lawyers that appreciated the complexity of the organisation, would manage all work through legal intake app, would run the function using LEAN principles and have the continuous improvement ethos of ‘do the work and improve the work’.

The key milestones of the programme included:

• Securing buy-in from the stakeholders impacted.
• Defining the scope of the programme including deliverables, timeframes, change impacts assessments, and communication channels. 
• Agreeing the vision, mission, objectives, strategy, and tactics of the new operation. 
• Undertaking a task appraisal by interviewing key stakeholders.
• Identifying one version of truth; contracting taxonomy, key processes, tiering, escalations, instructions into the legal functions, playbooks, Contract Pod AI, RACI etc.
• Agreeing current state and future state analysis.
• Managing sponsor and project team expectations including reporting (Documenting POAP, RAID, A3).
• Recruiting 11 lawyers – complying with HR processes, JDs, benchmarking, advertising, interviewing, offering, and re-offering roles. 
• Creating training and handover packs covering what the team will need to know re: business, team, policies, processes, systems.
• Scoping, designing, and building legal tech solutions using Microsoft 365 for intake and matter management to capture throughput, data, and value. 
• Communication and change management of the programme.

Sustainable Operations 

LEX360 used several tools and techniques to ensure the solution delivered vision for the project, these included: 

• Stakeholder analysis 
• VMOST
• 5 principles of LEAN
• Swim lane process mapping 
• Taxonomies, processes, tiering, escalations, instructions into the legal functions, playbooks.
• Function SWOT Analysis 
• Effort v impact analysis 
• Microsoft 365 applications (PowerApps, PowerBi, Visio)
• Ishikawa 
• Transformation map 
• Governance 
• POAP, PAD, RAID, A3, SSC

The Outcome

The project was delivered on time and within budget with exceptional stakeholder feedback. The client has run the operation for 9 months and the team and their approach to work has had impacts on the client’s wider legal function. 

The global legal intake app that LEX360 designed and delivered has been very successful and the utilisation and value is recognised by the legal and business. The value dashboard allows the client to demonstrate throughput, value of contracts, and escalations. The clients have visibility on allocation, progress, and blockers. 

The quotes below are from the GC and VP from the client team explaining the value that they got from working with LEX360:

“Mo, his team, and my team delivered a complex project in a constrained timeline to achieve wider company initiative. We have been recognised by the industry for this project as a pioneer organisation because of the sheer ambition of the project. I have visibility of demand and the value that the nearshore team are delivering because the intake and matter management product that we designed using developers”.

“Due to LEAN and creative problem training and ethos that we have developed in the new team – finding solutions to complex problems is second nature to the team. The team are dealing with more complex work than originally planned”.

At LEX360 we pride ourselves on our in-depth sector experience and customer centric approach to consulting. Let us help you establish an optimal legal function that manages demand is a systematic manner whilst demonstrating the value that your team adds to the success of your business.