Canadian Lawyer InHouse

39 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE MARCH/APRIL 2019 L a w D e p a r t m e n t M a n a g e m e n t for each team. With four different 'service pools' in our department (content, media, corporate and regulatory/government rela- tions), there's a lot of work to be done, so we're trying to be strategic about what we tackle fi rst. It's also really important in our fi rst few years to build some trust and cred- ibility within the department, so we want to address the low-hanging fruit that will have the biggest positive impact on the most people, as well as identify those roadblocks (whether systems or processes) that present the biggest pain points across the depart- ment," she says. From a technol- the department or the business at large. Chan says the key areas of focus in the fi rst fi ve years will be knowledge man- agement — developing more consistency across the company with respect to how documents and precedents are managed and encouraging greater collaboration and resource sharing between the service pools. Getting a fi rm grasp on what a legal de- partment has been working on is critical, says Kent Savage, senior vice president, corporate legal and governance at Sun Life Financial in Toronto. The legal department at Sun Life had what many law departments have — an adminis- trative function that performed some of the core tasks that its current legal operations did, basically around offi ce administration. "There was far less direct interaction with the lawyers and less of a focus on help- She has helped to build a culture of accep- tance to Lean Six Sigma principles and evalu- ating how we work to build a continuous im- provement culture within the legal function." Bowen had worked at Ford Motor Com- pany and Maple Leaf Foods and was part of the fi rst wave of Lean Six Sigma black belts at those organizations. "Sun Life legal gave me the opportunity to bring that suitcase of skills and experience to Sun LIfe and work with the leadership to build out the legal op- erations function and at how to do things better," she says. "Every industry has its challenges and opportunities," she says. "I have found le- gal more challenging; I fi nd it like a puzzle — how do you put the pieces of the puzzle together when one piece is about managing risk and the other one is about managing change? At fi rst glance, it's an uncomfort- able fi t. It takes time, but you start to fi nd the pieces that fi t together and slowly this picture begins to form. " Sun Life has four dedicated staff in le- gal ops including a technology specialist. She hopes to apply the learnings in Canada across the company globally. "To me, legal ops is not a portfolio of projects with start dates and end dates, but an ongoing responsibility of managing an in-house legal team's business activities. It's ongoing in terms of fi nding new and better ways of doing things." Bowen's arrival also coincided with Sun Life's move to new space on lower York Street in Toronto — a space that encour- ages "agile" workforce principles. People work where they want in an open-concept environment. Bowen is also leading the Toronto chap- ter of CLOC — CLOC.to, which started in September 2018. "When you're new to legal operations, the networking opportunities CLOC affords you are invaluable both lo- cally and globally," she says. For Savage, it's an ongoing initiative that is going to pay dividends to both the lawyers on the team and the company as a whole. "It's been a journey for everybody but hugely benefi cial to be re-thinking how le- gal operations becomes an integral part of supporting and delivering a superior experi- ence for business partners," he says. IH for each team. With four different 'se pools' in our department (content, m corporate and regulatory/government tions), there's a lot of work to be don we're trying to be strategic about wha tackle fi rst. It's also really important in fi rst few years to build some trust and ibility within the department, so we wa address the low-hanging fruit that will the biggest positive impact on the people, as well as identify those roadb (w ( hether systems or proce that present the biggest points across the de ment," she says. From a tech ogy perspective, Corus is working on rolling out e Signatures and looking into contract automation tools — all of these are aimed at removing some of the heavily manual or mundane tasks that the department under- takes on a daily basis so people can focus on the more complex and interesting work, as well as provide the business with more self- serve tools wherever possible. "We're also investigating a move to a document manage- ment system, hopefully at some point in the next year," she says. However, Chan says they don't want to fall into the trap of believing the technology alone will save them — so with every new tool they introduce, they are also ensuring that the right processes and policies are in place so that they get real adoption of the tools within ing the lawyers to actually enhance their ability to deliver legal services using a col- lective skillset," says Savage. In early 2017, Mimi Bowen was hired as the legal operations director for Sun Life in Canada. Her background is in operational effectiveness with experience in sectors such as food processing and automotive. She is not a lawyer. "We thought that it would be best to have legal operations headed up by someone with Lean Six Sigma skillsets," says Savage. "And someone who would come in with the fairly arduous task of learning how lawyers work. She has embraced that with great enthusiasm. To me, legal ops is not a portfolio of projects with start dates and end dates but an ongoing responsibility of managing an in-house legal team's business activities. It's ongoing in terms of fi nding new and better ways of doing things. MIMI BOWEN, Sun Life Financial

• Cover