Is Your Legal Team Wasting Time and Money? Get The Verdict In 5 Minutes
By Lisa Bodell for Forbes
If you had to read every privacy policy for all the products and services that you use, you’d need to invest around 250 hours a year, according to industry research. From the archaic language to the specialized jargon, most of us need lawyers just to translate the words of other lawyers. And so, to the surprise of absolutely no one running a business, legal teams are known for adding complexity to every project they touch.
As a CEO and the author of Why Simple Wins, my go-to technique with clients like Microsoft and HBO is a quiz that assesses the level of complexity present in their legal processes. Any size organization can use it, from start-ups to global corporations, but it should be completed by at least one person in a leadership role. From there, you and your teams can discuss results and decide on solutions.
Begin by answering the following six statements with either “Consistently,” “Sometimes,” “Rarely” or “Never.” Aim for radical honesty in your assessments.
1. Our legal department advances, not hinders, my work/my team’s work.
2. My team and I would agree that the legal contracts and agreements used by our organization are understandable.