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06 June 2025 / Kerry Phillip
Issue: 8119 / Categories: Features , Legal services , Career focus , Profession
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A GC’s guide to team optimisation: don’t wait, do it today, by Kerry Phillip
  • GCs and CLOs must evolve beyond traditional legal roles to lead tech-enabled, high-performance teams that deliver measurable business value.
  • Successful team transformation starts with data-driven discovery, strategic planning, and phased implementation, focusing on early wins and continuous improvement.
  • Tech adoption and clear service models help legal teams automate routine tasks, enabling them to focus on high-value, strategic work that drives businesses forward.

General Counsel (GCs) and Chief Legal Officers (CLOs) are almost without exception excellent at the ‘law’ and ‘managing risk’ parts of the role description—it’s why they got the job in the first place. But today, GCs must also run an efficient, tech-enabled, productive team that delivers, and can show it is delivering, value to the business. And for this, they have had no training.

I have always been interested in change, innovation and finding ways to accelerate, more so than in, say, the niceties of competition law or the technicalities of

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Partner joins commercial property team in Taunton office

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Londstanding London firm appoints new senior partner

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Commercial team in London welcomes technology specialist as partner

NEWS
What safeguards apply when trust corporations are appointed as deputy by the Court of Protection? 
Disputing parties are expected to take part in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), where this is suitable for their case. At what point, however, does refusing to participate cross the threshold of ‘unreasonable’ and attract adverse costs consequences?
When it comes to free legal advice, demand massively outweighs supply. 'Millions of people are excluded from access to justice as they don’t have anywhere to turn for free advice—or don’t know that they can ask for help,' Bhavini Bhatt, development director at the Access to Justice Foundation, writes in this week's NLJ
When an ex-couple is deciding who gets what in the divorce or civil partnership dissolution, when is it appropriate for a third party to intervene? David Burrows, NLJ columnist and solicitor advocate, considers this thorny issue in this week’s NLJ
NLJ's latest Charities Appeals Supplement has been published in this week’s issue
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