FEATURE
Transforming Legal Service Delivery By ROBERT GECKLE
I
n 2018 and 2019, the Airbus Legal and Compliance Agile Commercial Team (ACT) launched an initiative to transform its legal service delivery model to bring more value to Airbus and its customers. At that time, this large segment of the legal department focused on Airbus’s global industrial operations, including lawyers in North America, Europe and China. The company had recently undertaken a complex business reorganization that resulted in ACT integrating legal teams that were not previously included. The challenge was to create a high-performing, integrated global team while simultaneously confronting the “do more with less” challenge
24
facing many multinational legal departments. Airbus outlined five primary expectations for ACT as they underwent this transformation: • Be more business-minded and timely in delivering legal services. • Improve anticipation of risks and mitigation. • Be an active contributor to complex business decisions and design of new business models. • Be more consistent in advice across regions and business areas. • Leverage digital tools. The initiative focused on introducing new digital tools to improve
TODAYSGENERALCOUNSEL.COM JULY/AUGUST 202 1
workflow management and deploying a new “Ways of Working” program to ensure enhanced service delivery models focused on the company’s strategic issues. “ACT was a key part of our broader legal transformation efforts, which aimed at innovating our department to better serve our customers while making our employees’ lives easier,” said John Harrison, Airbus general counsel. As part of the project’s kick off, a forensic review of work performed around the world was conducted. This included customer surveys, interviews and peer benchmarking. With offices in over 25 countries, the ACT team of 65 legal professionals received anywhere from 250 to 450 legal service requests per month. Prior to September 2019, there was no central intake hub to manage these requests or evaluate the relative priority and impact of the legal work. Nor was there any formal mechanism to track requests, which came to the team through many channels. There was no easy way to categorize, prioritize, assign and track the work. This unstructured process caused unnecessary work, a lack of transparency into legal service requests, inconsistent advice, duplication of effort and no actionable insights.
A NEW TOOL To address these challenges, Airbus, in partnership with UnitedLex, implemented a digital BACK TO CONTENTS
