Insights
In-house legal teams
Today's complex business problems span departments, disciplines and geographies. Savvy in-house lawyers know that collaboration across organizational silos and with external organizations is critically important. But how?
By mastering Smart Collaboration, general counsels and their in-house legal teams can generate maximum value and achieve better business and legal outcomes. Our research defines four 'vectors' of collaboration that in-house legal teams must optimize: (1) within the legal group, including with other specialists such as data scientists or legal ops experts, (2) across other corporate departments such as finance, risk, or HR, (3) with their business counterparts in the board, executive team and front line, and (4) beyond the corporation, including external counsel, regulators, suppliers, and more.
Through case studies, quantitative analysis, and hundreds of interviews and surveys, we dive into the specific challenges, opportunities, and how-to points for each vector.
This Special Report, with input from hundreds of General Counsels, in-house lawyers, CEOs and board members, shows why and how legal teams work across silos – what we call 'Smart Collaboration.’
Source: The Centre for Legal Leadership
Year: 2020
Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1787423506/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc_mma?ie=UTF8&condition=new

In-house legal teams face increasing pressure to deliver more value to the business, which hinges on harnessing expertise across departments, divisions and geographies. This foundational report outlines some of the strategies to foster Smart Collaboration to reap the business and legal benefits.
Source: Harvard Law School, Center on the Legal Profession
Year: 2017

The article examines how in-house lawyers can overcome organizational and cultural barriers to reap the benefits of Smart Collaboration, including they better business outcomes and the potential to attract and retain the highest-caliber talent.
Source: The In-House Lawyer
Year: 2017

Summary: In the 5-minute podcast Dr. Gardner outlines how smarter collaboration within a legal team can make a difference in the impact that a general counsel can have within their organization. Investing in collaboration, building and working in teams are elements paving the road to success for GCs and any aspiring business leaders.
Event: Global Leader in Law and Morrison & Foerster
Link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdVlhtlpyMg
Year: July 2019

In the 5-minute podcast Dr. Gardner outlines the opportunities for general counsel to develop as executive business leaders. In that capacity, they serve not just spot risks and solve problems but to think proactively about how the legal knowledge adds to the business in terms of upside opportunities, as well as mitigating the downside'. GCs also have the opportunity to strategically shape and lead agile legal departments that are structurally able to pursue and create quick and untraditional solutions.
Event: Global Leader in Law and Morrison & Foerster
Year: July 2019
