2019: 3 Lessons on Legal Ops

No year is complete without some attempt to express guilt about things not done. I’m seeing a lot of reviews from all levels of the stratosphere. But I’m not judging. I love to read other people’s reviews of their year.

I didn’t do a review for my 2018 (dismal year but great for my growth) but I thought, Hey, why not do one for 2019? It was a better year all around and deserves some acknowledgement.

It’s a year where I got clarity on what I want to do as a legal professional. How my skills and preferences intersect with legal work. And how the girl who was so determined to NOT put her law degree to use is very much enjoying work as a legal professional.

Here’s the top 3 lessons I learned.

1) If you want to focus on Legal Ops, you have to seize the opportunity.

Colleagues from other departments are starting to recognize me as ‘The One with Forms and Templates’. I kinda like it. Has a nice Star Wars ring to it.

But I didn’t get here doing just regular legal work. I saw that forms and templates are needed and I just… made them. And if I had waited for my boss to say, “Aina, go make some forms”, I would have never even arrived.

Because I wanted to specialize in Legal Ops, I had to take the initiative to do Legal Ops work without being told, without recognition (at first) and IN ADDITION to my regular work. At times, the phrase Takde kerja, cari kerja definitely pings around in my head but more work is inevitable.

Branding principles definitely apply here. Do more of what you want to do so that you’re recognized for it. Over time, that will be “your thing”.

2) You don’t have to be a Manager to get started on Legal Ops.

We all manage something. If not people, then portfolios.

You most definitely manage some portfolios. Something that makes you the go-to person. That means you know the operational part of those portfolios on the back of your hand.

Rather than thinking about applying Legal Ops to the Legal department right away, why not apply it to your portfolios first?

I got started on Legal Ops by creating a tracker while managing nobody but a few simple portfolios. It made my job easier and I got to manage the workload better. And when the time came for me to handover the portfolio to my colleague, it was a breeze.

It also helped me take my work much more seriously (and strategically) because I could relate it to the management’s perspective.

3) Specializing in Legal Ops doesn’t mean that you’re less of a legal professional, ever.

This is one I was mulling over this whole year. If I want to do more Legal Ops work and less regular legal work, does that mean I’m less of a legal professional and more general office manager?

The answer is no.

This is how I see it:

• Regular legal work like contract review, legal opinion: More short-term, upon request.
• Legal Ops work like creating contract risk scoring system, legal opinion guidelines: More long-term, strategic.

If I want to be great at Legal Ops, I need to be great at regular legal work too. How else would I be able to know what to optimize / strategize for the Legal department if I’m out of touch?

I won’t be so effective at optimizing workflows and systems if I only sit back and expect my colleagues (who do the regular legal work) to tell me what they need.

So I think it’s a matter of balancing short-term and long-term work.

What’s your 2020 resolutions? Mine would be to slow down and deal with the projects in hand. There’s only so much I can do at any one time. Multitasking isn’t great for strategic work and I’m beginning to realize that I lose time and focus when I multitask.

Anyway, here’s to a fulfilling and successful year at work. May we achieve what we set out to achieve and much, much more.