Driving Legal Transformation: Insights from Legal Operations Leaders
Legal departments today face mounting pressure to evolve. In a landscape shaped by rising workloads, tighter budgets, and disruptive technologies like generative AI, legal teams are expected to operate with ever greater agility, efficiency, and strategic foresight.
To explore how leading organizations are navigating this transformation, Integreon’s EVP of Legal and Compliance Solutions, Gabriel Buigas, hosted a webinar, Transforming Operating Models for the Future, for The Lawyer’s Legal Transformation Week. Joined by senior legal operations leaders from Robert Walters, Equinix, Vodafone, and Lloyds Banking Group, the panel offered a multifaceted look at how legal functions are embracing change and preparing for the future.
From Lone Operators to Global Teams: Legal Ops at Every Scale
Panelists represented a diverse range of legal operations structures, from single-person departments to mature teams of 40+. Despite these differences, a consistent message emerged: legal transformation is less about size and more about structure, strategy, and cultural buy-in.
Isabel Young, Head of Legal Operations at Robert Walters, spoke candidly about leading change as a team of one. “Transformation can’t happen at the side of your desk,” she noted. Young described how she revived a previously stalled initiative by establishing clear roles, timelines, and project accountability, while also using the project to create leadership opportunities for her support staff.
Marcelo Peviani, VP of Legal Operations and Strategic Services at Equinix, emphasized the importance of anchoring transformation in a well-defined value framework. “Start with the why,” he advised. “Understand the business priorities and align legal capabilities accordingly.” For Equinix, that meant reassessing how legal services were cataloged and delivered, optimizing resourcing, and embedding continuous improvement into their operating model.
Change Management as a Cornerstone
All panelists agreed: the success or failure of transformation hinges on how well change is managed.
At Vodafone, Hazel Butler’s team has leaned into co-creation and experimentation, particularly around new technologies. “We got everyone involved and made everyone a little bit ops-y,” she said, describing how open workshops and peer-to-peer learning helped drive adoption of Microsoft Copilot. “The excitement is contagious when people are empowered to explore new tools.”
Sophie Pearn of Lloyds Banking Group stressed the importance of ownership and early involvement. “Strategy isn’t something that happens ‘over there’, we’re all part of it.” She highlighted how engaging end-users in designing and testing a legal front door solution helped foster alignment and drive usage.
Peviani underscored the need to tailor change management to the unique characteristics of legal professionals, who are often skeptical, autonomous, and risk-averse. “You need to meet your team where they are,” he said. Make the change relevant to them, and hold people accountable for the journey.”
Legal Ops as a Strategic Enabler of the Future
So, what does the legal function of the future look like?
According to the panel, it’s a data-driven, customer-centric, and strategically embedded partner to the business. Legal will need to measure its impact more rigorously, focusing on efficiency, effectiveness, and value delivery.
“Legal teams will have to run more like law firms,” Butler said, “knowing what they do, who they do it for, and proving the value.” She noted that that doesn’t mean commoditizing legal advice, but instead building the infrastructure processes, data, and technology that allows teams to scale their impact and focus on higher-value work.
Young echoed the importance of internal business partnering: “We’re in a great position to embed in the business and help it grow. Legal ops can connect the dots across functions and be a strategic multiplier.”
Gen AI: Learning, Experimenting, and Preparing
Unsurprisingly, generative AI featured prominently in the discussion. While most panelists acknowledged that in-house adoption still lags behind law firms, there was unanimous agreement on its transformative potential.
“We’ve moved from exploration to active experimentation,” said Butler, whose team has used Copilot for nearly two years. “Now, we’re looking at building use cases that are specific to legal and our business needs.”
Peviani advised focusing on experimenting with tools and building the underlying datasets and knowledge assets that will power future AI capabilities. Equinix has launched a Legal Asset Management initiative to standardize and document legal deliverables, supporting current efficiency and future AI integration.
“AI is more than a technology, it’s a catalyst for behavioral change,” he added. “The best thing you can do now is jump in, learn, and get your team comfortable with this new muscle.”
Metrics Matter—but So Does Meaning
A closing Q&A explored a perennial question: how do you measure performance when legal work is inherently qualitative?
Panelists agreed that while not everything is easily quantifiable, more can be measured than many teams assume. Whether tracking time to resolution, risk avoidance, stakeholder satisfaction, or alignment to strategic goals, metrics should reflect what matters most to the business.
“You need to tie your metrics to outcomes,” Young said. “It’s not just about showing efficiency—it’s about showing impact.”
Conclusion: Legal Transformation Is a Team Sport
From solo operators to global departments, today’s legal functions are under pressure to transform. But as this panel demonstrated, successful transformation isn’t just about technology or process, it’s about leadership, alignment, and culture.