The Big Idea: People and skills critical to successful legal operations

Simpson Grierson – As highlighted in the results and insights from our recent Transforming the In-house Legal Team Survey, Covid-19 has exacerbated the ongoing dilemma for in-house teams of how to deliver “more-for-less”. However, there are also lots of positive signs that teams are remaining committed to evolving how they work by embracing new skills.

Skills development is the key focus for one of the Leaders Fireside Chats happening as part of TechLaw.Fest next week. A stellar panel including Mary Shen O’Carroll (Director of Legal Operations at Google) will be re-framing the people element of legal operations and business alignment by examining the importance of skills development.

The discussion will be moderated by Michele DeStefano, author of a number of excellent books including Legal Upheaval: A Guide to Creativity, Collaborate and Innovation in Law which leverages over 100 interviews with general counsels and heads of innovation. It should be an interesting an insightful panel discussion.

What we’re up to: Webinar – Transforming the In-house Legal Team

Following on from our recent survey mentioned above, we are running a webinar on 14 October to flesh out the insights and results.

We will also be sharing practical tips on a number of top priorities highlighted by in-house teams. Zelda Gower (Senior Associate) will cover the opportunities and challenges of digital signing and Louise Taylor (Special Counsel) will touch on some of the key things to be aware of when assessing new tech tools. More details and invite to come.