Let’s face it: these are hard times. For everyone. All over the news (and LinkedIn), there are stories about companies laying off their staff in droves, some even going as far as to shutter their entire business. The companies that are still standing need to weather the storm by doing more with less.

This is especially the case for legal teams. Historically, legal is one of the smallest teams in the entire organization, leaning on just a few in-house professionals to support the entire business. 

It is not strange to have a legal team of two in a company of 200. 

So now, just like back in 2008, there is another opportunity for strategic innovation from legal departments. More than ever, GCs have to navigate the business landscape with an even leaner legal team. It won’t be easy, but with these tips it’s doable. 

Recession Planning for Legal: How to Do More With Less

Constraints often create the most conducive environment for innovation. Here are some ways to maneuver this new reality.

Cut down contract costs

According to the International Association for Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM), the average cost of a standard contract is $6,900. Even worse, poor contract management can cost up to 9% of a company’s revenue. The review and approval stages – which are notoriously drawn out – can eat up most of the overall costs of executing a contract.

Cut down contract costs by optimizing each stage of the contract lifecycle. Streamline the pre-signature stages of the contract by using templates and pre-approved language to help contract faster and reduce costs. 

Implement technology

Rather than depending on your legal team’s headcount to get things done, make your processes more efficient and implement technology to take care of the rest. Automate manual tasks for standard agreements with innovative tools like CLM.

Illustrate the ROI of your tool with reporting capabilities that show how much time you saved and how much more quickly your contracts traveled through the lifecycle. 

Invest in Legal Operations

Legal operations is a function growing in relevance and popularity among legal teams. Essentially, they are responsible for making your legal team more efficient while helping you cut down on costs and save money.

Legal ops are good at helping you decide what technology has the highest ROI and how to implement it and have a mature legal function. At a time when resources are scarce, legal operations professionals are good at allocating them appropriately and giving your team some reprieve.

In Summary

Legal teams are no stranger to doing more with less. The entire department and function have innovated significantly over the last few decades when their resources were stripped away. In today’s economy, they are being called on to exercise that skill more.

By cutting down contract costs, using technology like CLM, and investing in legal ops, legal teams can navigate this recession expertly and still help protect their business from risk.

Learn how LinkSquares can help your legal team do more with less. Request a demo today.