Hi there,
Earlier this week, I was privileged to share the stage in a fireside chat with former Mastercard and current Coherent CLO Rob Beard at the Economist’s London GC Summit.
It’s hard to convey the energy of the room that signified the weight of the challenges — and the opportunities — that today’s GCs shoulder.
It’s a time like no other.
So, the discussion Rob and I shared on Tuesday, specifically about GenAI’s role here, couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.
“Change management” doesn’t quite live up to describing the magnitude of industry change that today’s in-house teams must navigate.
It’s more like a “status quo obliteration,” as a friend of Rob's described it.
For GCs, that means two things in particular:
1️⃣ They’ve got to optimize their operating model to provide more value to the business more efficiently — or, in simpler terms, do more with less.
2️⃣ They’ve got to demonstrate to the business that they’re delivering on the promise of AI to do it.
Talk about status quo obliteration! 🤯
How is Rob framing these challenges for the team at Coherent?
Here are three key takeaways he shared with me and our audience during the chat.
1. Legal teams have to take charge of their AI narrative. 📢
Management consultants are already selling the narrative to the C-Suite that they can execute AI transformation to deliver the same legal services for one-third of the cost.
That narrative is almost always solely focused on cost. 🫰🏽
But as Rob explained, “I’m not trying to make us cheaper. I’m trying to make us better for the same costs.”
The narrative that GCs need to tell (before the consultants tell their version) is not that they are doing things more cheaply but that they are saving money on certain activities and re-deploying those savings — within the same budget cycle — to do better elsewhere. 💡
While the regulatory scheme and business environment get more complicated, how are you using AI to do more with what you’ve already got to respond in an agile way to the growing needs of the business — without asking for more money to do it?
2. AI transformation isn’t a “big bang” event; it’s a roadmap to change. 🗺️
While GenAI seems to have come upon us all of a sudden, we can’t expect AI transformation to happen as a “big bang” event — that we turn the key and everything miraculously works as planned, problem solved! 🪄
In reality, it’s more of a “road map” for navigating this status quo obliteration — achieving and demonstrating the right wins to the business and building on those successes over time to achieve lasting transformation.
Importantly, as organizations chart that road map, they need to lean on partners (like wink wink, yours truly) who are not only experts at charting the right course for change but also a trusted companion on the journey.
3. Transforming the operating model for how legal services are delivered isn’t a skillset; it’s a mindset. 💡
Rob used a layer cake analogy to describe how in-house teams should think about their process for delivering legal services.
Top-tier firms like Kirkland or Shearman might form the top layer, while alternative legal service providers like Axiom fill in the middle layer, and AI deployments comprise yet another.
But lord help my family if I’m the one in charge of the birthday cake making. 😣
There are master bakers far better suited to the challenge. And I don’t ever hesitate to employ them.
Legal is no different. 🍰
It’s incredibly risky and ill-advised for in-house teams to take on the layer sorting on their own. You’ve got to have trusted partners to help you do it.
And what struck me the most about Rob’s explanation is that those partners — the really good ones — don’t just bring a technology capability, platform, or skillset to bear on the challenge.
Most importantly, they bring a mindset — informed by outside perspective and broad exposure across the industry — to help them artfully build their layer cake of legal services in a way that truly delights the rest of the business.
And with that, the only question left is:
“Has your team got the number for a masterful baker?”
If not, I just might have some ideas in mind. 🤔
Cheers,
Jim
