Legal operations leaders know the pressure all too well: deliver more value, manage more complexity, and move faster than ever, often without the luxury of expanding headcount. In 2026, technology promises to help teams be more efficient. But as many companies have learned, buying the latest legal tech solution doesn’t guarantee progress.
During The Lawyer’s Legal Transformation Week 2026 webinar, “Maximizing Legal Technology Investments: Short-Term Wins and Long-Term Value”, I spoke with a panel of legal operations leaders: Suki Ritchie from Anglo American; Jenny Hacker of Royal London; and Robert Clark, Dentsu, to gain their insights on the topic. One theme was prominent: legal tech projects fail long before the technology is even switched on. Not because the tools don’t work—but because the foundation beneath them is shaky.
Start Before You Start: Understand the Current State First
One of the strongest recommendations from the panel was also the simplest: the work begins long before any vendor demos.
Too many teams rush into procurement without a clear understanding of how work flows into legal, where the choke points are, and which tasks are genuinely adding value. Without that clarity, even the best tool becomes a Band-Aid over a flawed process.
Successful teams take the opposite approach. They map out their intake, triage, and allocation processes. They analyze activity, even manually at times. They define what “high value work” really means. One team dedicated seven months doing this foundational work before choosing a platform, ultimately saving themselves significant rework and misalignment later.
Key takeaway: If you don’t understand your workflows, no technology can fix them.
Don’t Buy Before You Audit: You May Already Have What You Need
Another insight that resonated: many legal teams already possess powerful technology. They just aren’t using it.
Effective teams start by optimizing existing systems, often unlocking surprising amounts of value from enterprise tools like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or adjacent systems in HR and finance. Centralizing contracts in SharePoint, using forms for intake, or spinning up simple dashboards in Power BI may not feel glamorous, but they deliver fast, low-cost wins and align with the broader corporate IT strategy.
Key takeaway: Ask “What are we underusing?” before asking “What should we buy?”
Change Management Is the Real Project
If there was one universal truth identified during this session, it was: technology doesn’t fail; adoption does.
Successful implementations are shored up by three elements:
· A clear, shared vision: not just what you’re doing, but why it matters.
· Active executive sponsorship: leaders who champion the project, remove blockers, and ensure alignment.
· Deep user engagement: frequent conversations, targeted support, and ongoing training and reinforcement.
Some teams get creative using gamification, “success journeys,” or linking adoption to performance goals.
Key takeaway: Transformation depends on shifting behaviors, not installing software.
Rethinking ROI: It’s About Impact, Not Just Cost
Legal ops leaders often struggle to prove ROI in ways that resonate with the business. The default tends to be activity metrics such as volumes, turnaround times, workload distribution. Useful, yes, but not enough.
Business leaders care about outcomes: how legal improves speed, capacity, risk posture, decision-making, employee experience, and strategic impact. The panel emphasized that ROI should be a portfolio, something that captures cost savings and the broader value legal delivers.
Key takeaway: ROI must reflect business impact, not just operational metrics.
Storytelling: The Missing Skill in Legal Leadership
Perhaps the most eye-opening stat was one shared from the Thomson Reuters 2026 State of the Corporate Law Department report: While 86% of legal leaders believe they drive significant value, only 17% of the C-Suite agrees.
This disconnect isn’t about performance, it’s about communication.
Legal ops leaders need to translate legal activities into commercial outcomes. Instead of reporting how many contracts were handled, highlight how many strategic deals were enabled or how much faster the business moved because of improved cycle times.
Key takeaway:If you don’t tell your story, someone else will and the value may be lost.
When Budgets Are Tight, Start Small and Smart
Not every legal function has a large transformation budget—but that shouldn’t stop progress.
The panel recommended a simple phased approach:
1. Identify the biggest pain point (Intake chaos? Contract visibility? External spend?)
2. Use existing tools first. Create an intake form, centralize documents, or build a simple dashboard.
3. Use insights to unlock budget. Demonstrate value and reinvest in more advanced solutions later.
Key takeaway:Your first “tool” may be better use of the tools you already have.
Final Thoughts: Technology Is the Enabler—Not the Strategy
Across the session, a clear truth emerged: the most successful legal ops teams aren’t the ones with the biggest tech stack. They’re the ones who understand their work deeply, align tightly with business goals, engage their people, and tell a compelling story about the impact.
Transformation isn’t defined by the software you buy, but by the clarity, discipline, and leadership you bring to the journey.
Practical Takeaways for Legal Ops Leaders
· Map your processes before evaluating vendors
· Audit existing tools before buying new ones
· Prioritize quick wins that build credibility
· Treat change management as essential—not optional
· Measure ROI across multiple dimensions
· Translate legal work into business outcomes
· Elevate storytelling as a core leadership capability
lntegreon
About the author
Gabriel Buigas leads the Legal and Compliance Solutions at lntegreon, and brings more than 25 years’ experience in the legal industry holding both executive in-house legal roles and executive roles at a leading alternative legal services provider (ALSP). His depth of experience as both a consumer and a provider of legal services offers clients invaluable real-world insights and best practices.
