Author(s):
Gillian S.G. Scott
Sep 14, 2021
In-house legal departments at Canadian organizations have been under increased pressure over the last year to manage the needs of the business units they serve more effectively while navigating the impact of a global pandemic. Many are reassessing how work gets done in their departments and whether technology and process improvement can help them become more efficient and cost-effective.
To better understand legal department priorities and challenges, in the spring of 2021, Osler partnered with the Canadian Legal Innovation Forum in its first annual survey and report focused on innovation in Canadian legal departments. The survey asked in-house leaders, including general counsel and legal operations professionals, to share information about ongoing and planned initiatives in their organizations. Survey participants were asked about strategic priorities, how technology is being used to manage workflow and how in-house counsel are working collaboratively with their external legal service providers.
The report includes analysis of data collected from more than 80 legal department decision-makers across various industries, including financial services, information technology, real estate, retail, manufacturing and government. Key highlights of the report’s findings include:
- the recognition that technology has a significant role to play in their organizations becoming more streamlined and responsive
- the top consideration for the majority of survey respondents in making investments in technology is the complexity of integrating any new system with the organization’s existing tech infrastructure
- legal tech is having the biggest impact when it comes to contract management and contract drafting/reviewing, signaling the need for better applications of AI and document automation
- organizations are looking for increased legal operations support from their law firms and other legal service providers around cost management, contract management, improved billings and great efficiency and transparency around work being done.
For more insights, download a copy of the free report.
Download PDF: the CANLIF 2021 Legal Department Survey & Report
