The four case studies presented here provide examples of the most innovative work done by internal teams for their companies.
Read more here for an overview of how in-house lawyers strive for visibility and influence on senior management.
The case studies were researched, compiled and graded by RSGI. “Winner” indicates the organization has won an award from FT Innovative Lawyers North America for 2022.
operation and personnel management
WINNER: American Red Cross
Originality: 8; lead: 8; Impact: 8; Total: 24
Rather than spending $1.4 million per year on outside attorneys to manage the administration of donations to the charity through bequests or trusts, the legal team built a platform to manage documentation and internal workflows. This has resulted in 60 percent savings in legal fees for the work. The platform includes a dashboard that allows the team to visualize data on where donations are coming from – which they can share with the charity to guide fundraising strategies.
Stand out
Marsh McLennan
O: 7; L: 8; I: 8; In total: 23
The insurance group’s team has created a Legal Innovation and Technology Unit, led by the Chief Legal Innovation Counsel. Its principles are that innovation should save time and money, improve quality, reduce risk and even be fun. The team has focused on modernizing the department’s operations by collaborating with the company’s IT department to develop tools. It has introduced robotic process automation in areas such as e-discovery and sanctions monitoring, and launched an artificial intelligence review tool for contract analysis.
Vmware
O: 8; L: 8; I: 7 Total: 23
The US cloud software company’s legal team has improved the privacy review process to ensure risks are properly addressed before any product or feature is released. The team refined questions to elicit more specific answers and created a single form using what they call conditional logic ordering techniques. The review time has been halved. The team has also created 15-minute training sessions on topics related to privacy risks. Other parts of the company are now handling more privacy-related requests for themselves.
Tyson Foods
O: 7; L: 7; I: 8; Total: 22
The US meat supplier’s legal team implemented a program to measure and analyze the value of legal work, producing detailed metrics for every matter and area of activity, whether performed by a law firm or in-house. These metrics have helped save money and identify inefficiencies, as well as demonstrate the value that in-house counsel is delivering.
praised
Reciprocal freedom
O: 7; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 21
The insurance company’s legal department seeks to unify its practice areas and increase collaboration and agility in problem-solving. Initiatives include short assignments for attorneys to work between practice areas, monthly forums and training programs on topics such as blockchain and leadership.
Robin Hood
O: 7; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 20
Since the fast-growing US financial services firm added a legal department in 2020, Tami Davis has led the digitalization of external counsel management and consolidated contract administration processes. The result is a better overview of workflows and legal costs. The Legal Ops team standardized the legal department’s approach to public disclosures and helped launch Robinhood’s policy website.
Jones Lang LaSalle
O: 6; L: 7; I: 5; Total: 18
The real estate consulting firm’s leadership team launched training programs through a centralized platform to build cohesion within the newly centralized global legal department. Topics included environmental, social and governance standards as well as digital transformation.
Commercial and strategic advice
WINNER: Canadian Pacific
Originality: 8; lead: 8; Effect: 7; Total: 23
The railroad’s legal team helped with his bid for Kansas City Southern. The purchase of the rail operator will enable Canadian Pacific to open the first rail network spanning Canada, the United States and Mexico. The lawyers’ strategy was to avoid a bidding war with other companies and instead focus on the argument that they were the most likely to receive regulatory approval.
Stand out
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
O: 7; L: 9; I: 6; Total: 22
The US tech company’s legal team first rolled out virtual reality headsets for their own use, allowing employees to communicate with each other. It has expanded on that idea by working with the company to develop a new virtual “workplace as a service” (WaaS) that will provide the hardware and software support businesses need to leverage virtual reality technology .
Tyson Foods
O: 9; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 22
As Tyson Foods executives imposed a Covid vaccine mandate on staff, the legal team worked on a policy to allow exceptions on religious and medical grounds – but also to take on any lawsuits against its claims, the first of which was in October The companies that followed in 2021 have so far managed to fend off challenges to the no longer applicable directive.
praised
General Motors
O: 7; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 21
Automaker General Motors launched its BrightDrop subsidiary in 2021 to offer electric home delivery vehicles. BrightDrop’s legal team worked with its business partners to adapt the product for a commercial audience.
PepsiCo
O: 7; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 21
The legal team helped manage the rapid growth of PepsiCo’s new alcohol distribution division, Blue Cloud Distribution. The team negotiated various state laws to obtain 11 operating licenses in the first year.
Sustainability and responsible management
WINNER: Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Originality: 8; lead: 7; Effect: 9; Total: 24
The intellectual property team worked with colleagues from leading technology companies such as Microsoft and Meta to establish the Low Carbon Patent Pledge. Companies that sign up commit to sharing free access to technologies that can be used to generate and store renewable energy.
Stand out
generate capital
O: 8; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 23
Since the green infrastructure investment firm became a non-profit corporation in 2021, the legal team has overseen the transition to ensure the company is fair to all stakeholders – to whom it now has a fiduciary duty alongside its shareholders. This includes assisting in identifying stakeholders in the company’s investments, developing plans for community engagement and collecting data for reports.
General Motors
O: 7; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 22
The legal team helped the automaker develop a proactive approach to managing its environmental, social and governance (ESG) obligations. The team conducted an assessment for the board to assess whether its members had the required expertise in these areas and helped update its committee charters to include relevant considerations. It set up a cross-company ESG Disclosure Committee.
Honeywell
O: 7; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 22
The industrial group’s legal team introduced initiatives to ensure diverse candidates are considered for job openings and offers training on unconscious bias and empathetic leadership. These were applied throughout the company. In addition, the team has ensured accountability for the company’s sustainability commitments by assigning specific ESG responsibilities to board committees.
target
O: 7; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 22
When diversity goals for outside counsel didn’t bring significant improvements, members of the US retailer’s legal team switched to working with legal service providers to review their diversity issues and find ways they can help.
praised
Knowing
O: 6; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 19
The IT advisory group’s legal team took a lead role in redesigning the company’s proxy statement, which details the items to be voted on at shareholder meetings, to make the document more accessible and transparent.
Marsh McLennan
O: 6; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 19
The insurance group’s legal team has set up a committee with representatives from the management team to oversee ESG reporting and the efforts of the sustainability director. The ESG team regularly meets with managers to assess progress towards net zero.
Use of Technology and Data
WINNER: Salesforce
Originality: 8; lead: 8; Impact: 8; Total: 24
The legal team now uses the software company’s proprietary Service Cloud platform to manage workflows more efficiently, saving the company 20 percent annually in legal costs. In addition, the system connects to other teams, such as B. product management or engineering, so they can seek assistance and be automatically notified when project stages require legal review. The company’s messaging app, Slack, purchased in 2021, has also been integrated into the workflow tool.
Stand out
intel
O: 7; L: 8; I: 8; Total: 23
The Legal Department’s data analysis team has worked on more than 15 projects evaluating how employees use information over the past two years. This includes an anti-corruption compliance tool that uses data from previously disparate sources across the organization to examine compliance risk.
Fair Shares
O: 7; L: 7; I: 8; Total: 22
The financial services giant’s legal operations team took a multi-pronged approach to modernize its digital capabilities, save thousands of hours of work and reduce spend on outside counsel. It has launched a cloud-based administration tool that improves workflow, document management and data management, including invoicing, which can now be verified using artificial intelligence. The team is working on more than 100 processes that they want to automate with robotics.
praised
To bend
O: 7; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 21
Manufacturing group Flex’s legal team uses an artificial intelligence tool to create reports identifying potential risks in contracts with customers and suppliers. The average review time has shrunk from eight days to five minutes.
Sprucegrove Investment Management
O: 6; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 19
Chief Legal Officer Jeremy Gauld has implemented software to assess outside investment research spend. As a result, the company reduced its list of external research providers from 35 to 15 and reduced costs by $1.5 million per year.
