What does this layer contain?
Whereas the bottom layer of the Pyramid is about doing things consistently as a function, this layer is about becoming more structured, deliberate and sophisticated in how you do these things - more akin to walking before you can run.
These building blocks are about working in a way that provides the right information, data, and processes for you to start thinking forward.
These steps are still focused on the present rather than looking forward, but they provide the right structure, information, and data to start thinking forward, planning for the future, and strategising about how you would like to get there.
What does that look like in practice?
Demand & Resource Allocation is one that many functions focus on as a starting point, and there is a reason for this. Without a clear approach to allocating work within your organisational structure, you might have little idea who is doing what, how much bandwidth it is consuming, and why they are doing it. Teams with no structure for work allocation often find themselves picking up tasks that shouldn’t even be within the legal function at all!
Once you have a clear approach in place, however, you can start to analyse the demands being placed on the team, create a clear order of priority, and prioritise work types that are ripe for streamlining.
Vendor Management is another area that, when structured, can offer significant opportunities for improvement. Often, teams with no vendor management Framework in place find themselves reaching out reactively and ad-hoc to outside counsel, either because they have existing relationships or have worked with them on similar matters before.
Whilst nothing is inherently wrong with this, and you know what you’re getting from these advisors, failing to properly formalise your law firm relationships, tender properly, and manage your relationships at a holistic level can mean you are leaving money on the table and wasting time on admin. If asked to reduce or maintain outside counsel spend, you wouldn’t know where to start. There are now many more players in the ecosystem than just law firms!
However, having a clear Framework in place would allow you to create healthy competitive tension, generate like-for-like tender responses that are easy to compare, and ensure processes like engagement letters and billing run quickly and smoothly.
Finally, generating Analytics and MI is essential for any legal function looking to become a strategic business partner. Without data, you will struggle to identify areas/processes suitable for improvement, make business cases, properly assess your budget and spend as a function, or even meaningfully demonstrate your value to the organisation’s leadership.
This element sits across almost every other building block in the Pyramid, and data should be captured across, e.g., demand and vendor management to inform the strategic approach for both areas. It is important to note that data isn’t just quantitative but can also be qualitative, and you probably have a lot more than you think! However, given its importance, it is essential to establish a meaningful, deliberate approach to what data you will capture, and how you will use it.
Key Takeaway: Moving up the Pyramid requires putting processes, governance, and structure around the core components of a legal function. This allows you to identify opportunities for improvement, gather data and information, and start thinking strategically about each component and how you might want to improve them in future.
