A Decade of Legal Ops

A Decade of Legal Ops: Reflecting on Growth, Navigating Challenges, and Embracing the Future

This year marks CLOC’s 10th anniversary. It’s a good time to reflect on how far legal operations has come and where it’s headed next. 

What started as a support function has become a strategic force in modern legal departments. That evolution is front and center at the 2025 CLOC Global Institute in Las Vegas.

The Rise of Legal Operations

Over the last decade, legal ops has moved to the center of legal department strategy. CLOC’s 2025 State of the Industry Report found that 83% of departments expect demand for legal services to continue growing, with the top five most common legal operations services growing or remaining key to legal department functioning. Additionally, 77% of respondents said increasing legal operations headcount was medium or high priority for their organization.

According to a 2024 survey by Axiom, 94% of legal operations professionals anticipate department growth within the next two years, with 59% holding decision-making roles within their organizations. This growth reflects the increasing recognition of legal operations as a strategic partner in managing legal spend, implementing technology solutions, and fostering cross-functional collaboration.

Legal ops now owns budgeting, vendor strategy, process improvement, and data analytics. This work is essential as legal departments face pressure to deliver more with fewer resources. Our expertise in streamlining processes and optimizing performance is indispensable.

Economic Headwinds are Real

Even with this progress, economic conditions remain tough. Legal department budgets are under review and staffing is tight. Some organizations continue to invest in legal ops, others are adopting a more cautious approach, focusing on cost containment and efficiency.

In prior economic downturns, legal ops roles were often reduced, especially when viewed as  administrative rather than strategic. That’s why this moment calls for clarity. Legal ops professionals must show their strategic value, not just support. They are no doubt up to the challenge.

Adapting and Finding Bright Spots

There are opportunities abound. Smart teams are embracing change and doubling down in a few areas:  

  1. Showcasing Value with Tech: By using tools that save time and surface insight, and integrating them into legal workflows, legal ops can drive efficiency and reduce costs.
  2. Cross-Team Alignment: Legal ops can work more closely with other departments, such as finance, procurement, and IT, to align legal strategies with broader business objectives. 
  3. Strategic Planning: By developing and implementing strategic plans that align with organizational goals, legal ops professionals can position themselves as key contributors to business success. This includes identifying areas for improvement, setting priorities, and tracking results.
  4. Professional Development: Keep learning! Skill development is essential for legal ops professionals to stay ahead. CLOC’s Academy was founded for this very goal. And industry conferences like CGI also play an important role in enhancing expertise and career growth.

Looking Ahead

Ten years in legal ops has earned its seat at the table. The job now is to grow the influence that comes with it. Economic challenges persist for sure. But legal operations professionals are well-positioned to navigate these headwinds by demonstrating strategic value.

Embracing Legal Ops 3.0 at CGI 2025

Creativity Opens Doors: Embracing Legal Ops 3.0 at CGI 2025

“Creativity opens doors.” That’s my spin on the theme of the 2025 CLOC Global Institute. And it’s a mindset shift for legal operations professionals ready to lead what’s next. In Las Vegas this year, we move into a new phase of innovation, strategic thinking, and collaboration.

The Shift in Legal Operations

Legal ops is changing fast. According to CLOC’s latest State of the Industry report with Harbor, 93% of legal ops professionals say their roles are growing. The focus is shifting to AI, data analytics, and vendor management. This marks a clear turn from Legal Ops 2.0, which focused on efficiency. Legal Ops 3.0 to emphasize strategic value and smart execution.

AI adoption in legal departments has doubled in the past year. The trend is accelerating. Legal ops teams need to lead with creativity to unlock new ways of delivering results.

Soft Skills Matter

Technical skills are important. But leading real change also takes:

  • Change Leadership: Guiding teams through technological rollouts and process overhauls with empathy and clear direction.

  • Storytelling with Data: Turning complex data into compelling narratives that drive executive buy-in and team alignment.

  • Emotional Intelligence: Building trust through self-awareness and empathy.

  • Enterprise Collaboration: Connecting legal, finance, procurement, and IT to break down silos.

  • Critical Thinking: Responding quickly to shifting market demands and taking a creative approach to problem-solving.

These skills align with key parts of the CLOC Core 12, including Strategic Planning, Technology, and Optimization & Health.

What’s Ahead

This week features speakers like futurist Nancy Rademaker, legal leader Irene Liu and CLOC’s Executive Director, Oyango Snell. Their insights will help shape how we move forward.

As you explore new tools and approaches, choose creativity. It opens paths to impact, growth, and leadership.

The doors are open. Walk through them. Take the lead.

AI, Empathy, and Legal Design

In this episode of CLOC Talk, recorded live from the CLOC EMEA Summit in London, Guest Host, Lewis Bretts, Partner at PwC chats with Alisha Andert, co-founder of This Is Legal Design and chairwoman of the German Legal Technology Association.

Alisha shares her journey from traditional law into the field of legal design, her passion for innovation, and her work with legal technology company Flightright.

They discuss the role of design thinking in law, simplifying legal content, and how AI intersects with legal design.

Tune in as this episode touches on empathy’s importance in design, the challenges of the legal profession, and future trends in legal design. 

CLOC Chicago/Milwaukee Regional Meeting

Join your legal ops peers in the Midwest region to catch up and connect on our shared challenges and opportunities. We’ll welcome any new CLOC Chicago/Milwaukee group members, highlight CGI 2025, and then have an open discussion about current projects underway and any challenges that group members are facing. 

Hosted by the CLOC Chicago/Milwaukee group, this event is open to any CLOC Legal Ops Professional member, regardless of location.

CLOC Mexico: Transformación Legal – El Viaje con CLOC de un GC

Descubra cómo los principios de CLOC pueden transformar las operaciones legales de su equipo. En este webinar, exploraremos cómo un General Counsel ha aprovechado estas prácticas para optimizar la eficiencia y fomentar la innovación dentro de su departamento legal. Analizaremos métodos para mejorar la colaboración, optimizar procesos y gestionar presupuestos de manera más efectiva. Esta sesión le proporcionará enfoques prácticos y probados que pueden maximizar el valor de las operaciones legales en su organización. No se pierda esta oportunidad de obtener insights valiosos y aplicables para su propio equipo.

Associated with Mexico

 

How To Leverage Legal Operations Excellence To Achieve DEI Program Success

Brought to you by the CLOC Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Council 

In 2020, the Cruise Chief Legal Officer, Jeff Bleich, tasked Cruise’s Legal Operations team with building an industry-leading DEI program. Fast forward to 2023 and most of 2024, Cruise Legal was recognized by two legal industry awards for its role in DEI leadership and innovation, and is Mansfield Legal Department Certified.   

Rob Kwant, former Managing Lead for Cruise’s Legal Operations for 6.5 years (currently Head of Legal Operations at Snap), will share step-by-step how he approached this massive project from drafting a strong mission statement that laid out the department’s vision and goals, to building a multifaceted DEI framework, addressing each of the department’s goals in a manner where progress could be measured and tracked.      

Topics include:  

  • Summarize the industry standard DEI resources and frameworks Cruise used to build its legal DEI program.  
  • Discuss how to draft a DEI program charter and how to get stakeholder buy-in and engagement.  
  • Explain how to measure representation in legal department hiring, and then how to take action within the legal department with hiring managers to achieve results in each stage of the hiring funnel.   
  • How to build a framework to measure law firm DEI progress, then how to implement a law firm scoring program within the legal department to drive actual change with retained firms.   
  • Show Cruise’s outside counsel DEI scoring framework. 
  • Practical examples of how our DEI program led to operational excellence and attorney buy-in for broader law firm and matter management processes. For example, requiring Cruise attorneys to consider the DEI scoring of outside counsel prior to engagement and showing the impact of their outside counsel spend on DEI efforts within the legal industry as a whole. 

Note: This presentation was approved for public distribution by Cruise Legal. July 2024, Rob started a new role at Snap, and will not be sharing any information about Snap.

AI

The Impact of AI on Legal Operations Jobs

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming knowledge-based professions, and legal operations are no exception. As legal departments grapple with increasing workloads and tight budgets, AI offers a way to enhance efficiency and effectiveness without the need for additional human resources. 

This blog post explores the implications of AI for legal teams, careers in legal operations, and the essential skills needed to thrive in this evolving landscape. 

What Does AI Mean for Legal Teams? 

Legal teams are increasingly required to do more with less. In-house counsel manages everything from corporate transactions, to litigation, to regulatory compliance, and they regularly interface with teams around the business including sales, procurement, finance, IT, and more. That breadth of scope means that legal teams need not only to manage a high volume of work, but also to switch rapidly between several different areas of expertise on a day-to-day basis. That requires organization, agility, and ready access to crucial business information — in short, impeccable legal operations. 

Despite ever-burgeoning workloads, however, hiring budgets for legal operations remain constrained. In fact, eighty-seven percent of surveyed legal departments in 2020 expected their total number of in-house, full-time employees to stay the same or decrease. This scenario necessitates innovative solutions to scale up operations efficiently. AI is poised to fill this gap by automating routine tasks, enhancing document review processes, and providing data-driven insights that enable teams to operate leanly while managing higher volumes of work. By leveraging AI, legal departments can optimize their resources, allowing human professionals to focus on more complex, value-added activities. 

What Does AI Mean for Careers and Job Skills? 

The integration of AI in legal operations is reshaping the skill sets required for success in the field. Professionals who can work effectively across functional silos and drive collaboration on multidisciplinary projects will be highly prized. These individuals will drive significant value for large organizations by bridging gaps between different departments and enhancing overall operational efficiency. 

To that end, tech-savvy individuals who embrace, leverage, and champion new technologies will thrive. The ability to adapt to and utilize AI tools to augment productivity — and enable co-workers to do so as well — will become a critical competency in the legal operations landscape. 

Getting Ahead in the New World of AI-Powered Jobs 

In a recent survey, 62% of respondents said that the effective use of generative AI will separate successful law firms from unsuccessful firms within the next five years. However, success is not as simple as just picking any AI platform and calling it a day. 

To excel in AI-powered legal operations, professionals must focus on (1) choosing the right technology, and then (2) providing what technology cannot: human intelligence and experience. Choosing the right technology entails understanding what AI can and can’t do, and which platforms offer the capabilities that the team truly needs. The human element includes making connections between different disciplines, understanding nuance and context, and fostering human relationships. 

Legal ops professionals must also recognize and value factual accuracy, ensuring that they’re using AI they can trust and avoiding decisions based solely on AI-generated information, which can sometimes be flawed or misleading when it comes from the wrong source. Furthermore, making value-based judgments about goals, costs, benefits, and strategies will remain a uniquely human responsibility. 

By combining AI capabilities with human expertise, legal ops professionals can navigate the complexities of their roles more effectively. 

Conclusion 

AI is revolutionizing legal operations by enabling teams to manage increasing workloads without expanding their headcount. As AI becomes more integrated into legal workflows, the demand for multidisciplinary, tech-enabled professionals will rise. Those who can provide human intelligence, understand nuance, and make strategic, value-based decisions will lead the way in this new era. Embracing AI while honing these essential skills will be key to thriving in the future of legal operations.

 

Unlocking Legal Innovation: A Guide to Legal Design and Visual Law

In the fast-paced world of legal operations, the need for innovative solutions is paramount. This comprehensive guide explores the realms of Legal Design and Visual Law, ushering in a new era in legal documentation and strategy. Tailored for Legal Operations enthusiasts and experts, this guide demystifies the complexities and highlights the transformative power of these progressive approaches

Download the Whitepaper