June 25, 2024

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Among Elevate’s 24 blog posts thus far in 2024, five stood out for garnering significantly more views (i.e., at least a standard deviation above the mean) than average. View counts can be a dubious metric, but when a blog post attracts outsized attention from general counsels and managing partners, along with other legal and legal ops professionals, there is a good chance the post provides expert insight and guidance. With that in mind, here are (in no particular order) the top five most-viewed Elevate blog posts published in the first half of 2024:

Six Steps for General Counsels to Add Business Value – Part I In this post, part one of a three-part series, Devdeep Ghosh and Erica White describe the first two crucial actions for general counsels to take to transform their law department from a cost centre to a business value contributor. In parts Two and Three, Devdeep and Erica detail the other four challenges for GCs to tackle.

AI – Transforming the Lawyer of the Future For law organisations, adopting AI has become imperative. But, as Paula Forbes discusses, lawyers at law departments and law firms need not fear; rather than replacing legal professionals, AI is making human insight and knowledge more valuable than ever.

Which to Use? Managed Legal Services Versus Alternative Legal Resourcing For staffing, one size does not fit all, as Paula Forbes explains in this post examining the relative merits of managed services and so-called alternative legal services providers (i.e., law companies). Paula zeroes in on four key considerations related to cost, flexibility, risk, and expertise and explains how to approach each.

For a Law Firm to Stand Out, Matter Intake Matters For law firms, legal expertise is table stakes. To survive and thrive, a firm must master two operational challenges: client service delivery and business and administrative operations (i.e., business development, IT, HR, marketing, etc.). Otherwise, it will bear the consequences of poor operational efficiency and subpar client service delivery. Rob MacAdam provides a comprehensive overview of key issues in effective law firm matter management, including how the right matter management system benefits far more than fee-earning teams.

Who Owns Your Contracts? Transactions are the lifeblood of a business. Yet, companies (and law departments) are often bedevilled by multiple and inconsistent approaches to transaction management. In this provocative post, Pratik Patel and Ryan Sawyer propose a new department – a Central Transactions Office – headed by a Chief Transactions Officer, to operate as a centralised entity charged with helping across the entire business to undertake transactions and contracts in a consistent and optimised manner.

With the second half of 2024 upon us, we look forward to continuing to provide you with informative and thought-provoking posts that help law departments and law firms improve efficiency, quality, and business outcomes.