Legal

Boost Legal Output by Reallocating Spend

As you plan next year's legal budget, why not make the 60:40 flip? Flip to 60:40 majority in-house legal spend, and boost legal's value-add in the process


When you can't spend more, spend wisely.  This was a view shared by a number of GCs at the recent Economist GC Summit in New York.  With signs of economic slowdown and possible recession looming, it's likely most in-house legal teams will be looking for ways to stretch their legal dollars further.  But where do you start?

boost-output-by-reallocating-legal-spend

One recommendation was to look at the split between inside and outside legal spend.  For most companies, this spend is skewed roughly 60:40 towards outside spend.  Several GCs argued that, by flipping this ratio and spending the majority of their budget on in-house resources, the overall value to the business of each legal dollar goes up. This aligns with the idea that in-house lawyers can, and should, learn and get close to the business, so that they have a deeper understanding of how to help the business anticipate and navigate legal and regulatory risks. Building connections between legal and the business should be easier for in-house teams than for outside counsel (although it's a good idea for both). 

Another smart move is automation.  By allocating resources to process improvement and technology, some legal tasks can be shifted into business-self-service, and other tasks can be done more efficiently by the in-house legal team.  Why waste precious lawyer time drafting routine NDAs or reading through 10,000 contracts when there's technology out there to handle these tasks at a fraction of the cost?

So, as you plan next year's legal budget, why not make the 60:40 flip? That is, flip to 60:40 majority in-house legal spend, and boost legal's value-add in the process. 

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