Digitalisation of the in-house legal profession is exciting. The dynamic changes that new solutions have brought to the workplace have enabled workplaces to change considerably and show potential for much more.
Change can, of course, be challenging. Setting the correct culture, getting the department to buy into changes, and making the right investments for your department specifically are all legitimate hurdles that can hinder progress and demotivate the transformation process altogether.
Currently, the necessity to change has been thrust onto legal departments. The ongoing pandemic has already shown in-house flexibility in their work that would have been unimaginable years prior. Collaboration tools and remote working solutions have become essential for effective legal departments across Europe. In addition, the status of the World has brought upon additional legal challenges that have become a high priority.
Legal Departments on the Move, the latest report from Wolters Kluwer and the European Company Lawyers Association (ECLA), is based on a survey of more than 500 legal departments across Europe. It looks at key issues that all legal departments currently are faced with and shows how our legal profession has fared in Europe over the last few years.
Key findings include:
- Process improvement: 54% of legal departments see contract management as needing urgent improvements, similar to the results surveyed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Digital budget: 25% of legal departments have seen a higher approval of their digital budgets
- ESG projects: 78% of legal departments consider properly digitalised legal departments to be at an advantage when managing ESG projects
- Internal changes: Increase in remote working seen by 85% of legal departments
Detailed findings are available in the report, including what processes legal departments would improve most urgently, how the pandemic has impacted the way legal departments work and the role of digitalisation in ESG issues.
