On March 26, the LawAhead Center on the Legal Profession at IE Law School hosted Sumi Trombley, President of UpLevel Ops, a consulting firm specializing in providing services for in-house legal departments and law firms. During her presentation, she shared a compelling strategic framework designed to optimize legal service delivery and help legal teams align their work with business objectives. 

OPTIMIZING LEGAL RESOURCING AND ROLES 

In her presentation, Trombley introduced Resourcing Models that optimize the contributions of legal talent, enable scalability, and reinforce the importance of clear roles and responsibilities. 

She highlighted how modern resourcing strategies can drive greater profitability for law firms by making Alternative Fee Arrangements (AFAs) a more viable and lucrative alternative to the traditional billable hour model. 

RISK ALIGNMENT SHOULD ALWAYS COME FIRST 

To optimize legal service delivery, Trombley emphasized the need to clarify Legal’s role within an organization, ensuring maximum value contribution and a smooth cross-functional flow of information and services. 

She highlighted risk alignment as a top priority, stressing that legal teams must first understand their clients’ objectives and ensure their actions are strategically aligned with business goals. True strategic legal service delivery occurs only when legal work is aligned with business objectives. 

LEVERAGING AUTOMATION AND GENERATIVE AI 

Technology is a critical component in strengthening legal resourcing and process optimization. Trombley discussed the role of workflow automation, data analytics, and AI in enhancing legal service delivery. 

She emphasized the increasing adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) within legal teams, discussing how firms can effectively identify which tasks are best suited for automation to maximize efficiency and strategic value. 

Trombley also underscored the importance of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in measuring legal performance. Despite having access to relevant data, many law firms do not track KPIs, missing opportunities to improve decision-making and demonstrate business impact. Implementing KPI dashboards can enhance to clearly illustrate and support strategic recommendations. 

ABOUT THE LAWAHEAD CENTER AT IE LAW SCHOOL 

The IE Law School’s LawAhead Center on the Legal Profession fosters reflection on the challenges and opportunities facing the legal sector in Spain and globally. The Center was initially made up of large business law firms such as CMS Albiñana, Cuatrecasas, Gómez Acebo y Pombo, Garrigues, Pérez-Llorca, Roca Junyent, Sagardoy Abogados and Uría Menéndez. Recently, other companies such as AENA, Caixabank, Mapfre, Microsoft and Telefónica.