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7 Int'l. In-House Counsel J. 1 (2013-2014)

handle is hein.journals/iihcj7 and id is 1 raw text is: International In-house Counsel Journal Vol. 7, No. 25, Autumn 2013, 1 Increasing Your In-House Law Department's Efficiency: How Your Clients Can Help You AXEL VIAENE Group General Counsel & Company Secretary, GrandVision, Netherlands Abstract Increasing your in-house law department's efficiency Today's businesses are operating in a challenging economic environment. It is increasingly difficult for companies to achieve their aggressive growth targets. Every function within a company is asked to do more with less. The in-house legal department is no exception to that rule. Against a backdrop of an increasing litigious world, in-house legal professionals are asked to deliver more legal work with fewer resources. In my article, I will try and show how you can increase your department's efficiency by actively involving your clients in your struggle for increased efficiency. My article will show how you can make your in-house clients your first line of defense in your risk management strategy. In-house legal teams can increase their efficiency as well as enhance their clients' satisfaction with their services by pursuing a strategy of pro-active legal client involvement. My article will provide concrete tactics to effectively train your in-house clients and increase their legal awareness. The new reality for in-house counsel How to best respond to your clients' ever increasing requests How to provide effective legal training How to increase your in-house clients' legal awareness How to do more with less How to actively manage down the contents of your inbox The world has changed dramatically since the financial crisis of 2008. We live this every day. All professionals are facing increased pressure to realize savings as a consequence of one of the biggest financial crises in recent memory. The in-house legal community is no exception to that demand for ever increasing efficiency. The life of in-house counsel seems to get harder every day. Our clients are demanding to see a return on investment for the money they spend on their in-house legal department. After all, lawyers are not adding anything to the topline, right? Have you ever considered that the client who is chasing you to demonstrate your added business value may actually be an important part of the answer? This article will try and touch on the strategic importance of legal client training, recommend topics, tactics and, of course, metrics. This article will show how to build a legal knowledge base at client level. Far from being an exhaustive treatise on legal training, this article is based on real life experiences gained in a number of different industries. The objective of this article is to provide concrete tips to in-house counsel to help them mobilize their clients and work more efficiently in this new economic reality. The good news is that your client will do a lot of the heavy lifting in the process, and love every bit of it. The changed role of in-house counsel? ISSN 1754-0607 printISSN 1754-0607 online Internationalln-house Counsel Journal