Advocacy, Operational Maturity, AI, and the Future of Legal Operations

I spoke with Oyango Snell, the Executive Director of the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium. We discussed the biggest challenges facing leaders in legal operations, how they can more effectively highlight their contributions to their organizations, the value of operational maturity skills, and the skills necessary for legal operations leaders to thrive.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Welcome to Reinventing Professionals,a podcast hosted by industry analyst
Ari Kaplan, which shares ideas,guidance, and perspectives from market
leaders shaping the next generationof legal and professional services.
This is Ari Kaplan, and I'm speaking todaywith Ogo Snell, the Executive Director of

(00:25):
the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium.
Hi, IGO.
How are you?
Hi, Ari.
How's it going?
It's so great.
It's a privilege to speak with you again.
Tell us about your backgroundand your role at Clock.
I serve as the executive directorof cloud, but my background is
much more complicated than that.

(00:45):
I've been a lawyer and lobbyistmostly for associations my entire
career, which spans about two decades.
Both in law, government affairs thenonprofit sector association leadership.
Including roles as in-house generalcounsel chief Executive Officer, running
our State Bar Association in Californiabut also just coming up through the

(01:07):
association space, working both at stateand regional and national associations.
Really cutting my teethin the association space.
And it's been quite amarvelous career that I've had.
I've been in-house counsel outsidecounsel, government counsel, and
I've also worked at a law firm.
So I've pretty much worked almostall of the areas of law from position

(01:31):
or title that you possibly can.
I've also been a law professor.
I'm a visiting law professor at MidgeLaw School in Sacramento, California.
And I just love the practice of law.
That's a little bit about my backgroundgrounded in the law, but also in
the nonprofit sector, particularlythrough the association community.
What's your mission at CLOC?

(01:51):
Our mission is to enhance and improvethe business and practice of law.
We do that through a peer-led communitythat's focused on looking at not only
legal technology, but also other areasthat help scale and increase and enhance
the business and practice of law.
What are the biggest challenges facingleaders in legal operations today?

(02:15):
One of the biggest challengesis really perception.
Perception of what legaloperations is and what it isn't.
When you think of legal departments,in-house teams in corporations
or law firms, you think of costs.
That's still some of the stigma thatit's grounded in costs, it's a cost
center and that it's only designed tofunction as a cost control mechanism.

(02:38):
One of the opportunities that wehave through CLOC is to try to work
with corporations and throughoutthe legal ecosystem to communicate
that legal ops is not just aboutcontrolling costs, but it's also part
of the strategic goals and strategicobjectives of the entire enterprise.
The challenge is trying to getfolks to buy into that ideological
concept, that construct that legaloperations is not just one thing.

(03:02):
It's many different things.
It's a discipline, but it's adiscipline of a variety of components
that's embedded within it that helpsthe business move forward, not just
the legal aspect of the operation.
How can legal operations leaders moreeffectively highlight their contributions
to their organization's leaders?

(03:24):
It's advocacy.
How do you advocate for yourself?
Communication is key.
It's one of the things that we need tobe able to do as legal ops professionals
to be able to communicate and talk aboutthe enhancements that we can bring to
the entire enterprise and the entirefunction of an organization, we're
able to communicate how we're able to.

(03:45):
Enhance the company's bottom linethrough KPIs, through scalability.
And tell our story in a better waythan we've done in the past in order
to help our leaders understand howwe bring strategic value to the
organization, not just one dimensionor one component of what we can
do from a cross control component.
What are some best practices for legaloperations leaders to more effectively

(04:08):
collaborate with their chief legalofficers and other C-suite leaders to
support enterprise wide priorities?
It's about working withyour leader, rather.
It's a general counsel or chief of legalwhatever the title may be within the
organization, but trying to meet with themand help them understand the objectives

(04:29):
of legal operations and how it helps theorganization achieve its strategic goals.
Having those conversations consistentlybeing part of the team dynamic.
If you're not already tryingto figure out how you can be.
But also showing your value.
One of the most important things that inany organization it's important for an
individual to be able to show their value,not just talk about it, not just complain

(04:52):
about it, but really demonstrate thetrue value that you bring to the table.
So look for niche opportunities.
We can think of artificial intelligence.
That's one of the componentsthat's scaring everybody.
When you think of artificial intelligence,what's your niche in AI to where you're
able to go to your superiors, go tothe general counsel or the chief legal
officer, and talk about how you'releaning into the technology in order

(05:15):
to help the organization advance.
How you're leaning into the technologyin order to help the enterprise
reach its strategic objectives.
Not just cut cost controls, but bemore efficient, be more effective in
order to deliver quality, enhanced,efficient services to to the clients
and to the rest of the actualdepartments within the organization.
That's one best practice that can be.

(05:35):
Fostered, but I think itstarts with communication.
Getting on the same page, seeking thatalignment with your leadership, but
also understanding the overall strategyand figuring out where your value
sets fits within into that picture.
How does operational maturityaccelerate that executive buy-in
and strategic decision makingin corporate legal departments?

(06:00):
Operates a maturity in and of itselfis having that predictive scalability.
I remember when I was lobbying forvarious other industries, and one
of the things that we would push forwhen we were lobbying at either a
legislative or regulatory level isa predictive regulatory landscape.
The government's not alwaysgonna be in our favor.
The government's trying totake care of consumers and.

(06:21):
Strikingly so was corporate entities.
But I think having that predictivescalability is important
because you're able to show.
How operational maturity can be not onlyjust repeatable, but also measurable.
It's tech enabled and it allow,processes and other types of streamlining
components throughout not only justthe law departments, but also scale

(06:44):
the business of the entire enterprise.
Those are some things to focuson at a high level though.
Legal is no longer just reactive.
If it can be predictive it can helpaccelerate trust from executive leaders.
Because that type of trust is alsogrounded in insight and not in instinct.
It'll help not only just from a maturityperspective of legal functions, but

(07:06):
also benchmarking performance, beingable to forecast your needs within your
organization and also contribute to moreof a pro proactively enterprise planning.
What skills are essential for legaloperations leaders to demonstrate?
Being able to tell a compelling story.
Being able to tell a compellingstory about what the metrics are

(07:29):
doing to help advance the enterprise.
Being able to understand the emotionalintelligence of your leaders as well
as the internal clients that youserve, working cross-functionally,
and being able to communicate withdifferent team members to show how
legal operations is helping themperform and enhance performance rather.
And in order to reach andcap your strategic goals.

(07:52):
Legal ops leaders must also understandtheir niche, understand their value,
particularly in terms of the C-suite.
How they can use data to tell theirstory, how they can work with the other
teams and create case studies in orderto help the organization move ahead.
How do you see Clock evolving tosupport its members in adapting to

(08:13):
a rapidly changing legal market?
When I came on board, I looked at clockit's been around for about 10 years,
within that 10 year frame of thishistorical institution that had this
grassroots movement when it first beganand that grassroots movement began to
grow and grow, and the leaders of the timebegan to try to expand it, but also keep

(08:35):
that same small grassroots feeling to it.
We've grown to a point where wenow have to redefine ourselves
and redefine the value for ourmembers, but not just our members.
The entire industry, Clock is at a uniqueposition to be able to bring not only
legal ops professionals to the table, but.
Legal services providers tech consultants,other types of consultants, all under

(09:00):
one roof to be able to exchange ideasand communicate with each other in
order to enhance the legal ecosystem.
Clark really stands at the epicenterof bringing all these various key
stakeholders together in orderto move the industry forward.
I think that's the most pivotal thing thatwill be done in my tenure here At Clock to
be the one that said we had an opportunityand we seized it In bringing the industry

(09:24):
together to look at really advancing thislegal ecosystem and addressing strategic
issues as it relates to legal operations.
This is Ari Kaplan speakingwith Ogo Snell, the Executive
Director of the Corporate LegalOperations Consortium, OGO.
It's been an honor and I wish you thevery best of luck in your new role.

(09:47):
Thank you very much, Ari.
I appreciate the opportunityto be here with you today.
Thank you for listening to theReinventing Professionals Podcast.
Visit reinventing professionals.com orari kaplan advisors.com to learn more.