The lawyer in 2023

1. Increasing Legal Exposure

Today, and increasingly, the lawyer is exposed to a large number of interlocutors in the company: let’s mention the Purchasing function in the drafting of Purchasing contracts, Marketing or Communication for the drafting of partnership or service contracts, the Finance function for intra-contractgroup, which can also request reports on the provisions to be escalated for litigation or for the monitoring of lawyer budgets, the Sales teams for their partnership contracts, or general management in the context of merger operations-acquisition or joint venture… The number of internal clients of the legal departments is increasing and the exposure of the lawyer is increasing.

Moreover, the regulatory environment is becoming increasingly complex. For example, the CSR dimension occupies an increasing place in the company and is subject to increasing regulations (Sapin 2 law, Pacte law, declaration of non-financial performance, etc.). The legal departments interviewed within the framework of the 2022 Observatory of Legal Departments (Source: De Gaulle Fleurance & Associés, in partnership with the French Association of Corporate Lawyers AFJE) declare that the issues raised by corporate social and environmental responsibility now represent nearly 17% of their time. Companies in the banking or insurance sector are all the more exposed to this new legal situation.

De facto, the workload of in-house lawyers becomes exponential, giving rise to numerous email exchanges and making follow-up very time-consuming. This is especially true in SMEs, where the legal team often boils down to one or two lawyers. The main challenge for the latter is then to gain in efficiency and to guard against an excessive workload, while remaining the guarantors of the protection of the company in legal matters.

How can we respond to a growing demand, which makes it possible to manage risks, priorities and emergencies, while ensuring that we do not lose anything in requests to ultimately have a structured and efficient approach?

2. Digital tools for the legal function

Digital is undoubtedly a fundamental lever of transformation for the legal department.

Its first effect is that of efficiency. Under the influence of digital technology, the tools are transformed and allow the lawyer to optimize the quality of services, intervention times and dematerialize the various legal documents.

In terms of contract management, the contribution of digital is undeniable. While there is a wide variety of practices on this topic, the use of paper contracts, manual archiving or email contract exchanges continue to be the lot of many companies. However, tools to digitize this activity exist and give lawyers time to gradually free themselves from administrative and manual tasks in favor of tasks with higher added value (analyses, negotiations, knowledge management, etc.).

On the corporate dimension or the management of litigation and legal watch, the contribution of digital allows an undeniable efficiency gain, particularly in terms of monitoring of delegation of authority or the implementation of reports.

Digital tools also make it possible to enhance the achievements of the legal function.

Indeed, the legal department that has taken the digital turn has equipped itself with tools that allow it to access information faster and easier. With a growing volume of data, the challenge for lawyers is to collect them quickly, to structure them in the form of dashboards, to better manage them. These reports allow better performance monitoring and optimized risk management.

These tools facilitate collaboration between different departments of the company, allow the legal department to gain visibility and position itself as a real Business Partner. The lawyer then shares qualified information with stakeholders through personalized dashboards and shows the work done (e.g. The sales department that wants to have centralized information on requests made by its teams to the legal department now has access to it through shared dashboards). Digital tools at the service of the legal function allow other functions of the company to better perceive the burden borne by lawyers, to visualize the progress of their file, to anticipate requests, This enhances long-term project management. This strengthens legal collaboration and communication. By equipping itself, the legal department gains visibility, optimizes its time and efficiency.

Thanks to digital tools in particular, the legal function strengthens its position and its image as a key player in the company, guaranteeing its profitability and risk management.

However, should we conclude that the tool is the key to transforming the legal function? It is not.

While they are a catalyst, the only digital tools are not the guarantee of a successful and effective transformation. The tool, as powerful as it is, is only a support for the transformation, a pretext to initiate more profound approaches and discussions around the processes, methods or the organization in place within the company. In its desire for transformation, the legal function can then decide to equip itself for all the reasons detailed above. But the tool remains nothing less than a tool, which should not be placed at the heart of the device but be perceived as a formidable lever for the transformation, and which accelerates more strategic thinking, enabling the development of efficiency and ensuring legal certainty. Equipping yourself with a powerful tool without the deep will to transform will, at best, have a limited impact, at worst counterproductive effects. In any transformation, the tool remains and must remain at the service of the human being and the legal function is no exception.