How Legal Ops Helped Me Build a Legal Function from Scratch
Four years ago, I was the first legal hire at one of Ireland's most exciting tech companies - its most recent unicorn, in fact. We had just raised a Series B and were expanding globally, especially in the US. Deals were flying in thick and fast.
I was used to fast service levels from previously working with startups as a corporate lawyer, but now here I was working on the inside as first legal hire: a one-woman band with no resources, processes or support. There was no way I was building out a "department of no."
A lot of people still don't understand legal ops or why it's critical to running a modern legal function. They assume it's a "nice to have," just legal tech, only relevant for large legal teams, or something only big companies with big legal teams can afford. But these are all myths that prevent you from running a lean, modern, well-liked legal department.
Why Legal Ops Was Essential from Day One
Without legal ops, I couldn't have built a legal function from scratch capable of delivering fast service levels at a rapid-scale tech company. Legal ops became the cornerstone of building a legal department from the ground up, because most of what you do in the early days is design and implement processes and improve efficiencies.
Fortunately, I'm a non-conformist with an innovative mindset who likes to find better ways of doing things. I knew that delivering fast solutions in this environment would mean throwing out the rule book. I was laser-focused on:
Running the legal team like a business
Maximising efficiencies
Saving money
Supporting revenue growth
Creating value for the business
Improving the legal function's bottom line
The Four Core Legal Ops Drivers
Even though we were early stage, I knew our scale-up had the same drivers and needs for legal ops as larger companies:
Optimising Resource Utilisation: Matching the right work with the right provider. This meant understanding what work truly needed my attention versus what could be handled by others.
Technology: Maximising efficiency by using collaboration tools, workflow automation, business intelligence and other solutions to eliminate manual, repetitive tasks.
Cross-functional Alignment: Strategically aligning with other functions and key internal stakeholders for improved collaboration to drive impact across the business.
Data Analytics: Using quantitative and qualitative data to identify opportunities to improve the legal function and show the business how well Legal was operating.
Putting Legal Ops Into Action
I put these drivers into action by taking a completely different approach from traditional legal departments:
Resource Strategy: I didn't default to hiring people. Instead, I outsourced process-heavy work to an Alternative Legal Service Provider (ALSP) that used tech and legal ops to support our needs efficiently and cost-effectively.
Technology Implementation: I leveraged technology to improve efficiencies and successfully bought and rolled out a Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) tool that automated much of our contract workflow.
Data-Driven Decisions: I tracked and used data to make better, data-driven business decisions rather than relying on gut instinct or traditional legal approaches.
Financial Management: I used resources responsibly through careful financial management, proving that legal could be both effective and cost-conscious.
Strategic Partnerships: I established strong firm and vendor relationships to support our needs without building everything in-house.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: I collaborated extensively with other teams and key internal stakeholders, treating them as customers rather than obstacles.
Self-Service Enablement: I set up a "legal front door" with our own templates, service levels and enablement materials that allowed other teams to handle routine matters independently.
Goal Alignment: I created team goals that aligned directly with company goals, ensuring legal's success contributed to overall business success.
The Results Speak for Themselves
This legal ops approach allowed me to build a legal function that could scale with the business while maintaining high service levels. Instead of becoming a bottleneck as deal volume increased, we became an enabler that helped accelerate business growth.
The key insight was recognising that legal ops principles apply regardless of team size. Whether you're a team of one or one hundred, the fundamentals remain the same: optimise resources, leverage technology, align with business objectives, and use data to drive decisions.
Why This Matters for Every Legal Team
If I could implement legal ops as first legal hire and General Counsel, reporting to the CEO and sitting on the executive leadership team, you can too. The principles scale up and down depending on your resources and needs.
Legal ops transforms how you think about legal service delivery. Instead of defaulting to traditional approaches that may not fit your business environment, you start with the question: "What's the most efficient and effective way to deliver this legal service?"
This mindset shift positions legal as a business enabler from day one. You're not just reviewing contracts and managing compliance - you're actively contributing to business growth through smart resource allocation, process optimisation, and strategic technology implementation.
The legal teams that embrace legal ops principles early become indispensable business partners. They demonstrate value through measurable outcomes, operate efficiently within budget constraints, and scale seamlessly as the business grows.
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