Five major corporates have collectively saved over 500,000 hours of lawyer time annually. A report by artificial intelligence contract review platform LawGeex has revealed that JP Morgan, Telstra, NetApp, Discover and AIG have used technology to automate basic legal work.The companies are cutting back on legal spend but investing in strategic legal operations.

Efficient and strategic

According to the report, the five leading law departments have cut back despite facing the biggest challenges ever experienced in law. This is being replicated across tens of thousands of legal departments facing up to the challenge of delivering more efficient and strategic legal operations. With legal teams facing unprecedented demand for innovation,  only 28 per cent are hiring more staff, while almost two-thirds of legal departments report an increase in legal matters. Technology is also automating basic legal work, while 65 per cent of in-house counsel are taking part in strategic business thinking, requiring a change in mindset to achieve the highest levels of pay and job satisfaction.

Innovation

Commenting on the launch of The In-House Counsel's Guide to Change Management, Noory Bechor, CEO and founder of LawGeex, said:  'Innovation is undoubtedly the hottest theme in law. While legal is lagging as one of the last professions to embrace change, leading in-house lawyers are bringing fundamental and lasting change to legal departments, businesses, law firms, and the wider economy. This is the story of that journey.'

Maintaining the status quo

Mick Sheehy, GC of Telstra said that 'Too much focus on maintaining the status quo ignores the fact that the environment around you is rapidly changing. Just as traditional law firms become disrupted by niche players using lower cost jurisdictions, specialist service providers and technology, so too will the ways in which corporate clients expect their services to be provided by in-house legal teams. We need to innovate just to stay still.'

Machine learning and AI

Meanwhile, Donna Kolnes, Adobe’s associate general counsel said: 'As technology explodes, especially around machine learning and artificial intelligence, it is more important than ever that in-house legal departments be able to pivot along with the business.  This guide brings much needed and timely advice on how to do just that.'