How do you become a head of legal operations?

If an organization doesn't yet have a formal Legal Ops function, many find that they are already "doing the work" without the title/recognition. Leverage the suggested resources and published job descriptions documenting these areas where you add value to the legal department.

For instance, if you're a mid-level legal manager in a corporation, evaluate how your work contributes to overall legal operations, like process improvement or technology adoption. Seek opportunities to expand your responsibilities in these areas. This self-assessment helps you understand the skills and experiences required for a Head of Legal Operations role, such as strategic planning, team leadership, and legal technology expertise. Focus on developing these areas, either through on-the-job experiences or additional training. Demonstrating your ability to efficiently manage legal operations and innovate within your current role is a crucial step towards advancing to a head position.

The path to becoming a head of legal operations involves a combination of education, practical experience, and the development of specific skills tailored to legal and business management within the legal sector

Look around the department and as yourself "what is the work that has to get done to make this department function" and figure out what "good" looks like for those functions using resources like CLOC or ACC.

Comment être responsable juridique ? Quelles sont les qualités requises pour être Directeur juridique ? Bonnes connaissances des règlementations. Capacité à interpréter et comprendre les textes juridiques. Bonne capacité rédactionnelle. Aisance orale et diplomatie, communication interpersonnelle. Capacité à anticiper les risques. Esprit d'analyse et de synthèse.

There are no relevant legal certifications for legal operations. The certifications I would recommend seeking are those such as lean six sigma and PMP. A legal background is not required to succeed in legal operations.

While the orgs listed do not yet offer legal ops certifications, the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) offers a rigorous Certified Legal Manager curriculum and certification, while the Buying Legal Council offers a self-study curriculum and certification exam in legal services provider management. And I just learned from a colleague that MIT Professional Ed offers a Certificate in Legal Tech in the Digital Era. Certifications in Six Sigma, Agile or PMI also offer a toolset that can be very helpful. None is a pre-requisite for a career in legal operations, but I can attest that the ALA CLM course of study helped to jump start my career in legal operations and the continuing education requirement helps me to keep those skills sharp.

In my experience, you need extreme curiosity about how things function plus an insatiable desire for efficiency. A love of innovation, project management, process, spreadsheets, numbers and technology is a must, as well as a talent for getting buy-in from the team. Basically, being a “figure-outer”.

There is currently no official curriculum to become a legal operations professional. This is the challenge but also the beauty of it: we don’t fit in any box! The most relevant profile is the one of a Swiss Army knife. > Train yourself on disciplines that identify and enable optimization opportunities, and that allow for a structured execution. A background (certification or hands-on experience) in Lean Six Sigma techniques and project management are very good examples. > Strong basics in financial and human resources management are also important, as well as a true savviness for technology.

The only "certification" is the willingness to be creative and forward-thinking to "get things done". LSS or PMP help, but we're an output driven function.

Above all else, this is the best advice. Make and leverage those connections! Participate in any of the many opportunities across the industry.

Networking - building and maintaining my network is the #1 thing I wish I did better. [and apparently I need to type more to submit this... Come on LinkedIn, nothing wrong with short and to the point]

A key element to being a Head of Legal Operations is the ability to communicate and problem solve across the matrix so finding opportunities even if they are outside of Legal can help you gain this experience. There are a large number of Heads of Legal Operations that come from a background other than Legal (i.e. IT, Consulting, Project Management, Compliance, etc.).

If you're new to the role and/or the function is new to the organization, go on a listening tour! Learn from everyone in the department where their areas of friction are; consider building a list of things to STOP, START, and CONTINUE based on those inputs. Interface with key stakeholders in Finance and IT. Most importantly, don't be distracted by shiny new technology solutions before having a complete understanding of any given process, then consider where automation fits into an optimized future state.

Become an expert in the LegalTech landscape. There are so many problems to be targeted and lots of products on the market trying their best to solve them. You want to be familiar with them. Get to know key contacts at these software and service providers. These are the people who are talking regularly to your peers across industries and can help you in so many ways.

Don't be afraid to ask for help! The legal ecosystem is massive and through many different channels you can find others who have 'been there, done that', even in your own industry and similarly situated organizations.