Implementing a Legal Front Door: The Benefits to In-House Counsel and Their Teams

In-house counsel plays a vital role in organisations, ensuring that legal issues are identified and addressed promptly and effectively. However, the demands on in-house legal teams are constantly increasing, with new and complex legal challenges always emerging.

To meet these challenges and ensure that legal issues are handled efficiently and effectively, many organisations are turning to the concept of a ‘legal front door’.

What is a legal front door?

A legal front door is a centralised system or process that serves as the first point of contact for legal issues within an organisation. It can take many forms, such as a legal helpdesk, a centralised intake system, or an online portal.

The key feature of a legal front door is that it provides a single point of entry for legal issues, which are then triaged and directed to the appropriate legal resource within the organisation.

There are many benefits to implementing a legal front door within an organisation. Here are some of the key advantages for in-house counsel and their teams: 

Improved Efficiency and Effectiveness

By providing a centralised system for managing contracts and legal issues, a legal front door can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of in-house legal teams. 

Legal issues can be triaged and prioritised quickly, ensuring that urgent matters are addressed promptly. This allows in-house counsel to focus their time and resources on the most important issues rather than being bogged down by administrative tasks or low-priority matters. 

Increased Visibility and Control

A legal front door can also provide in-house counsel with increased visibility and control over legal issues within the organisation.

By centralising the management of legal issues, in-house counsel can more easily track and monitor legal matters, ensuring that they are handled consistently and effectively. This can also help to identify trends or recurring issues, allowing in-house counsel to develop proactive strategies to address them. 

Better Resource Allocation

A legal front door can ensure that in-house counsel can allocate their resources effectively by directing legal issues to the appropriate legal resource within the organisation. This can include identifying which matters can be handled internally and which require outside counsel, as well as ensuring that legal resources are deployed most efficiently and effectively as possible. 

Improved Risk Management

A legal front door can also help improve organisational risk management. By providing a centralised system for managing legal issues, potential legal risks can be identified and addressed more quickly and effectively. This helps reduce the likelihood of legal disputes arising and minimises the potential impact of legal disputes if they do occur. 

Enhanced Compliance

Finally, a legal front door can help enhance an organisation’s compliance. By providing a centralised system for managing legal issues, in-house counsel can more easily identify compliance issues and ensure that they are being addressed appropriately. This can reduce the risk of regulatory or legal penalties and ensure that the organisation is meeting its legal obligations.

Better business practices with legal front doors

In conclusion, implementing a legal front door can benefit in-house counsel and their teams. By providing a centralised system for managing legal issues, a legal front door can improve efficiency, increase visibility and control, better allocate resources, improve risk management, and enhance compliance.

As such, it is a valuable tool for any organisation looking to improve its legal operations and ensure that legal issues are handled efficiently and effectively.