Introduction
In today’s fast-paced legal demands, General Counsels (GCs) face numerous challenges in managing their work efficiently and effectively. One of the key challenges is finding the right skills to handle diverse legal tasks while also optimising their workflow. This is where online legal platforms like LegaMart come into play, revolutionising how legal services are accessed and delivered.
LegaMart offers a compelling solution for General Counsels by providing a centralised hub where they can access a vast pool of legal professionals with diverse expertise that can work as a backend support by providing them with legal talent specializing in the law in which they are dealing, as well as expertise in language and communication skills.
This newsletter will explore why General Counsels should consider embracing LegaMart to enhance their legal departments’ capabilities, streamline workloads, and stay competitive in today’s dynamic legal landscape.
Legal Challenges Faced by General Counsel
The pressure on general counsel to conduct a broader variety of tasks intensified during the pandemic and continues to expand in this shrinking global economy. In-house lawyers are being forced to accomplish more with less as their businesses cut down on resources.
While the legal department’s usual activity requires the attention of current personnel, complicated new concerns, including risk assessment and mitigation, need quick attention.
The general counsels are facing challenges in the following areas of their work:
Compliance work
Organisations are increasingly moving most of their risk to in-house teams, putting pressure on general counsel to make business decisions.
As one recent example of the importance of general counsel and role is the recent report by the Financial Reporting Council of the UK that has criticised large corporations for merely going through the motions regarding adhering to the significant reforms in Britain’s corporate governance standards from the previous year.
In its annual corporate reporting review, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) scrutinized 216 accounts, raising questions with 96 companies and requiring 14 to restate due to significant non-compliance. Moving forward, the FRC will focus on disclosures concerning risks and uncertainties stemming from COVID-19, climate change, and the UK’s EU exit.
It should be noted that these tasks are just a fraction of the responsibilities shouldered by the General Counsel. Their role encompasses much more, often making it a demanding endeavor to manage, making it challenging to keep up with regulatory obligations in all regions and geographies where a firm conducts business.
Data Security and Technology
For businesses that handle customer and employee data, the bar for compliance with the Data Protection regime has been raised considerably, highlighting the potentially steep costs of non-compliance. Privacy is a paramount concern for consumers, making ongoing GDPR compliance a crucial priority to manage risks and protect reputation.
Technology, including blockchain, artificial intelligence, and big data, has recently disrupted the legal sector. Even if General Counsels aren’t currently employing these technologies in their departments, many of their clients and customers likely are. The use of AI algorithms, in particular, raises concerns about oversight and control, creating new legal issues where General Counsels play a role in ensuring proper consideration.
However, the ongoing pressure to achieve more with fewer resources and reduced costs may lead general counsels to embrace adopting new technologies.
Overseeing Legal Risk
Organisations increasingly shift a significant portion of their risk management to in-house teams, placing more significant pressure on general counsel to make decisions that align with the company’s commercial interests.
The role of legal counsel extends beyond legal matters to encompass a deep understanding of the organisation’s goals, strategies, and areas of vulnerability. They must effectively communicate the risks associated with various management decisions. Over time, in-house counsel may also be expected to actively participate in commercial aspects, serving as enablers who inform and shape strategic business choices.
Efficiency and Impact on Profitability
Managing rising legal expenses while simultaneously handling varying levels of risk necessitates a comprehensive grasp of the factors influencing an organisation’s cost structure and profit margins.
In-house lawyers face the challenge of striking an optimal balance between efficiency and effectiveness while educating the business on this delicate equilibrium. In this context, in-house legal counsel should take proactive measures to propose cost-saving initiatives while identifying appropriate benchmarks for efficiency.
In start-ups and SMEs, the legal function often operates with tight constraints, with small legal teams, sometimes even a single counsel, navigating a maze of legal challenges. These constraints can stem from budgetary limitations or a nascent understanding of the full spectrum of legal implications.
In an era where the roles of general counsel are expanding, and technological advancements are rampant, the legal sector is feeling the urgency for more automation and the incorporation of AI. LegaMart addresses this need with its integrated case platform, which offers vital tools to initiate, manage, automate, oversee, and finalise legal cases. This sophisticated environment not only offers guidance to clients throughout every stage of their legal case but also boosts transparency and operational efficiency, making the handling of cases and contracts easier for the general counsels with their clients.
How Can Legamart Help the General Counsel Come Out of These Challenges?
More general counsels are discovering that well-established mid-market legal talent suppliers effectively satisfy the demands of legal departments looking for an alternative to the restricted conventional options of partnering with a major law firm or obtaining assistance from costly legal talent agencies. On-demand legal expertise suited to the demands of a project at truly cost-conscious pricing allows legal departments to grow their capacity while maintaining lean operations; this is known as on-demand in-sourcing.
On-Demand Flexibility
Online networks offer General Counsels (GCs) the agility to quickly expand or shrink their legal resources in response to evolving needs, eliminating the burden of maintaining under-utilised staff. This is where Legamart, with its extensive online presence spanning over 25 nations worldwide, can significantly assist the General Counsels. It enables GCs to efficiently outsource specialised legal tasks to foreign local support, like for compliance work tailored to specific jurisdictions, to dedicated legal experts.
Specialised Skill access
Using platforms such as Legamart, General Counsels can have the advantage of sourcing specialised expertise, such as privacy lawyers, without the complexities of managing multiple relationships with law firms. This facilitates networking with independent legal experts from various countries, fostering idea exchange and collaboration, and allows them to seek expert opinions and reviews on specific tasks, such as digital compliance in different countries or negotiations related to ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) compliance.
Cost Efficiency
Working with platforms such as Legamart also helps General Counsels avoid paying hefty charges. LegaMart operate in a digital environment, meaning they have to pay a minimum subscription fee to avail all the services they require. Legamart makes it easy for General Counsels to find lawyers and attorneys in different jurisdictions in different areas of law.
Diversity
Online platforms like Legamart offer access to a broader spectrum of demographics, backgrounds, and experiences than traditional networks. For high-stakes matters, bespoke law firms remain essential. However, integrating online platforms into a mixed-resourcing strategy enables General Counsels to create a more adaptable, flexible legal function. The key lies in matching the suitable projects with the appropriate model.
Conclusion
As General Counsels (GCs) face multifaceted challenges that demand innovative solutions, Online platforms such as Legamart are particularly beneficial for addressing the legal issues of foreign subsidiaries or remote divisions.
Legamart, with its extensive global reach and diverse pool of legal experts, empowers General Counsels with versatile solutions. By tapping into these platforms, General Counsels can access specialised skills and expertise, flexibly adapt their legal resources, and achieve cost efficiency that traditional law firms often cannot match. Hence, these platforms empower General Counsels to not only overcome challenges but also proactively shape their legal functions’ future.
