Technology, data, and strategy: Moving Legal Ops to the next frontier

“Legal Ops isn’t the back office anymore. The most impactful Legal Ops teams aren’t just managing processes; they’re reimagining how technology, data, and strategy come together to move an organization forward. The next frontier isn’t just about streamlining workflows — it’s about designing entirely new systems of intelligence.” 

Jenn McCarron, Legal Ops & Technology Director, President of CLOC

In 2025, more than ever before, corporate legal departments are achieving the perennial goal of getting more done with less. As processes grow smarter and technology increasingly enables mundane or repetitive tasks to be automated — with fewer errors — Legal Ops teams can begin to train their focus on more corporate-led priorities.

As a result, they say their roles are growing — and by a large margin (93%). Despite its prior emphasis on efficiency, CLOC’s latest State of the Industry report with Harbor highlights the importance of strategic value and smart execution. 

Stephen Embry, writing for Above the Law, says Legal Ops professionals are uniquely qualified to solve business problems that include: 

• Identifying enterprise-wide inefficiencies 
• Collaborating with functions like finance and procurement
• Using data in new ways to justify budget, tools, and headcount
• Translating complex legal risk into actionable business decisions 

Embry shares that in a CLOC panel discussion, Powerhouse Perspectives, Casey Flaherty, a partner at Baretz+Brunelle and co-founder of Lex Fusion, told the audience, “We need to stop embedding technology in legal processes — and start embedding legal knowledge in business processes.” 

But — particularly for legal departments that are operationally less mature — humans may be at least a temporary roadblock to achieving these ambitious goals. 

As one panelist put it, writes Embry, “The tech is moving fast — but humans aren’t.” 

Legal Ops as agents of change

Oyango Snell, Executive Director of CLOC said, “Legal operations professionals are at the center of transformation in the legal industry.”

How best to mobilize people in pursuit of this transformation? 

One way to nudge the ball forward is for Legal Ops to expand its focus beyond legal concerns to include more traditional business priorities like growth, revenue, and innovation. These are areas where legal operations can make a valuable contribution. And, because they are aligned with corporate goals, it helps to shift the view that they are purely an administrative function. 

According to Stephanie Corey, co-founder and CEO of UpLevel Ops and writing for Above the Law, the GC–Legal Ops partnership is critical to the future of in-house legal. Corey observes that when they collaborate, playing on each other’s strengths, they create greater value for the business. This is another way that Legal Ops can work to replace unhelpful past perceptions. 

Corey suggests: 

• Structuring legal support around revenue generation
• Optimizing resource allocation
• Using data-driven insights to show legal’s direct impact  

Once corporate lawyers’ value to the business is established, its reputation as a support function or cost center can be quickly upgraded to a strategic partner. 

What’s our role at iManage? 

A growing wealth of technologies are available to help legal departments work more efficiently and reduce the time spent on repetitive administrative tasks. Proactive risk management is directly linked to both cost savings and company reputation, and the identification of emerging opportunities can lead to revenue enhancement. 

By looking ahead, an organization can improve resource allocation, simplify compliance, reduce costs, direct research and development efforts, avoid disruption, prepare for uncertainty, and gain a competitive advantage over those not working proactively. 

iManage future-forward legal document management is smarter, faster, and safer. The globally trusted platform enables corporate legal departments to: 

• Meet today’s needs and seize tomorrow’s opportunities
• Protect, control, and secure sensitive information
• Boost collaboration, efficiency, and productivity 

What’s more, the efficiencies iManage solutions afford open up the bandwidth and opportunity for Legal Ops professionals to contribute more value to the larger organization.

Where does AI fit in? 

Half of Fortune 1000 companies already use generative AI for legal matters. Seventy-six percent of general counsels believe that generative AI will decrease legal department costs, while 72 percent say generative AI will allow them to keep more work in-house (LexisNexis).

Legal professionals are anxious to use generative AI tools like ChatGPT, but companies have valid concerns about exposing their most sensitive content to third parties and generic consumer internet services. Luckily, there is a safer option.  

The best solution incorporates artificial intelligence throughout the platform to better understand and organize the documents it protects. The data architecture and data models woven into the iManage knowledge work platform provide the necessary roadmaps and signage for automated tools to perform their assigned tasks without a hiccup. 

With iManage, AI strategy is built on a strong foundation. Tools like iManage Insight+, AI Enrichment, and Ask iManage ensure that the environment in which your knowledge is housed meets today’s highest standards for both performance and security and that your access to that knowledge meets the same high standards. 

Designed for professionals who manage sensitive and regulated knowledge content, iManage solutions are deeply integrated with your existing work experience. Discover how your team can enhance productivity, improve access to information across the organization, achieve peerless efficiency, work more securely, and meet risk and compliance objectives with iManage. Download Making Knowledge Work for Corporate Legal Departments, and you can begin that journey today.