Dentons In-House Solutions

Regardless of where your compliance function sits, whether it’s within legal or is a standalone team, there is a familiar pressure to create and demonstrate value. The perception of being a roadblock is possible when there isn’t a strong partnership with the business, or when compliance is not part of every strategic conversation. In this podcast, we tune into the hands-on experiences and perspectives of two former in-house counsel and now members of Dentons Global Compliance and Investigations team, Zaeem Soofie and Anthony Moscato. Zaeem and Anthony dive into some of the essential characteristics of a best-in-class compliance program, highlight the practical things you can do to create and demonstrate value, and discuss some of the ways you can ease the tension that sometimes surfaces between the compliance function and the broader business.

Burnout in the legal profession is on the rise and while stressful workloads and time pressures are likely to blame, it does make you wonder whether we can do more to control how we spend our time, and that of our teams’. Are we effectively and efficiently managing our time and, our greatest resource, our attention? In this podcast discussion, we connected with Dentons colleagues, Rita Simões-Muir, Senior Talent Development Advisor and Claire McMillan, Talent Development Manager and explored ways for us to think a little differently about the concept of time management along with ideas to maximize our own productivity.

As the GC of a company with an international footprint or interconnected supply chain, how are you planning for the unknown during a time of evolving and complex geopolitical risks? In this podcast, we connect with Pierre Parvine, Partner and Co-head of Europe Industrials Sector at Dentons and John Hughes, Partner and Head of Client Strategy at DGA Group to discuss the many ways that the General Counsel can find opportunity during a time of disruption.  

For more details on the Market Disruption Readiness offering discussed in this podcast, download our brochure.

Building a high-performing legal team can become a competitive advantage for your organization. While having the right mix of skills is clearly part of the equation, studies show that you can drive innovation and collaboration to new levels by building an inclusive environment where everyone on the team feels that they have a voice, can share their ideas without fear of consequences and can bring their authentic selves to work. In this podcast, we connect with our Dentons colleagues, Kate Broer, Global Inclusion, Diversity & Equity Officer and Magda Kalus, Global Talent Director, as we dive into how diversity is a performance and innovation driver, strategies to drive inclusion across your team and the power of human-centric leadership behaviors.

In

Dentons latest global in-house legal insights survey, we explored a number of themes

including what legal teams from around the world are doing to achieve greater

operational efficiency within their department. While assessing and optimizing

workloads and exploring how to leverage automation for routine or administrative

tasks are high on the list, so is ensuring the efficient engagement of outside

counsel. In our latest podcast, we connect with James Arnold, Head of Legal

Project Management for Dentons in the UK, Ireland and Middle East, and dive

into effective scoping and communication strategies to optimize your external

counsel engagement.

Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) technology has received a lot of attention in the past few years and, with its focus on solving a major pain point for the law department and business, it’s not a surprise. But before you consider investing in any CLM technology, there is a bit of homework that needs to be done first. In this podcast, we chat with Lucy Bassli, author of “CLM simplified” and founder of Innolaw Group - a CLM consultancy and preferred partner to Dentons In-House Solutions – as she provides a few top tips for those looking to embark on optimizing their contracting function.

With a possible recession on the horizon, organizations around the world will be turning to their playbooks and refining their focus to be sure they come through the other side stronger than before. The law department cannot be an outlier in this effort. In anticipation of requests to reduce your budget, now is a good time to consider conducting a review of the law firms and other external providers you use to understand not only what can be done to achieve greater value but where you can achieve greater cost savings from those relationships.

In this podcast, we connect with Katie Windmoeller, Dentons Senior Manager of Proposals, and Matthew Prinn, Principal of RFP Advisory Group, who share deep experience in the RFP, pricing and procurement space, as they offer some tips and best practices to those looking to conduct a convergence program.

To learn more about how Dentons In-House Solutions can help you through this process, connect with our podcast host, JoAnne Wakeford.

There’s no question that the past two years have been exhausting for us all, with law departments around the world really feeling the pressure. Workloads have increased and, for many, budgets have decreased and with COVID continuing to squeeze both personal and professional obligations, many are rethinking career goals and re-evaluating the meaning of work satisfaction. In this podcast, we connect with Kyla Sandwith, a fellow legal operations consultant and founder of De Novo, Inc who has a particular expertise in team engagement and talent development. Kyla shares her perspectives on how to spot an engagement issue, and how to address those challenges and keep people motivated – even in the absence of any formal authority.