Have a small legal team but want to implement some efficiencies of a larger legal organization? LegalDive.com has put together some tips for how to achieve this. Start with a maturity model to assess the team's performance and technological strengths and gaps.

“A maturity model is important for a department to show what is meeting efficiency metrics,” Paul Liu, general counsel for PacketFabric, told the site.

Another tip is to start measuring and tracking the large volume of data generated by your legal department.

“Once you get your key performance indicators and your data points set, you’re going to start to see trendlines,” Jen Lenander, director of legal operation at Elastic, said.  Then, begin to analyze the data and ask “what is the story you need to tell?” and  “Who is your audience?” Lenander added that "it’s really hard for a GC or a CEO to say no when you have hard data saying you need that headcount.”

Be Picky

Lenander also cautioned against implementing new operational tool, or procuring some new technology being sold to your department.

“I will die on the hill for process and requirements,” she told LegalDive.com. Lenander continued that so many legal tools are “the bright and shiny thing. You see it and you want it and then you try to fit your process into it. And it’s so cool, the tool can do this and this. But do you really need that?”

She advises not to throw away bad money after bad money if a new tool isn't working. Instead, "rip it out and pivot, then pivot.” If anything, try a free trial version or software demo, Lenander concludes. The trial period will let you see just how well (or not) a new tool fits into your team's process.

Verdict

For small legal teams, budget restrictions are just as tight as personnel restrictions. In addition to maturity modeling and being deliberate about which new tools to adopt, smaller legal departments could benefit from the use of alternative legal service providers like Lawtrades, which help connect them to legal professionals who can help streamline operations.