19 December 2024

I’d like to thank the Academy.

We’ve previously showcased part of our interview with Shelley, the Legal Operations Manager at a New York-based organisation. We met Shelley when she undertook Front Foot Academy’s Main Course.

Here, she talks about the importance of training in legal operations.

FF: Where do you see training playing a role in business, and how open are people to training within legal ops?

ST: It really depends on the budget, the organisation and the legal team. Some GCs and legal teams have no idea what legal ops is. They don’t necessarily understand it.

I think proactive teams, maybe younger teams, and teams in different spaces, such as the technology or services industries, understand it.

I would recommend this sort of training and development for any legal team. While there’s always a focus on continuing educational services for attorneys, our internal department needs more training. Everyone, from paralegals to the higher-ups, should have an opportunity to participate in this training and development.

FF: It’s beneficial for us to see how the Academy’s principles have been applied in the real world. What has been most helpful to you?

ST: Well, most of it so far is useful. Our department is still young, so we can build from the ground up.

The Academy was a good refresher and helped with our legal tech roadmap. In terms of strategic planning, that was very helpful.

Your tie-in between the organisational objectives and goals and the team goals and the individual goals is one of the best ways I’ve seen presented. Because I can empathise with that. In my current role, for instance, given the high-growth nature of our organisation, our goals have been tenuous. They keep moving.

So, being able to present our value to the organisation has been helpful and is something I keep top of mind. The model ‘legal does and legal doesn’t’ is something we use every day. I think that’s where everyone should start!

What I really like about the Academy is that it sets an excellent framework for whatever Legal wants to do. It’s one of the best I’ve seen for breaking it down into more actionable steps with tips from your real-world perspective. David has a way of pointing out what to be mindful of, what’s relevant to the clients and stakeholders, and how to manage those relationships.

FF: Have you participated in other parts of the academy or Front Foot’s events?

ST: The live Q&A sessions are great. I like that you offer it so we can connect what’s going on in our daily lives with the content.

It’s very rare to access live Q&A opportunities. Since legal operations are ever-evolving, I appreciate that we have a place to facilitate questions or brainstorm. So, that’s been great.

The newsletter rocks. I love the nuggets and reminders. Whatever the content, it just brings these ideas to the forefront of my mind.

I also appreciate that you can bring in all these guest speakers to your webinars. In the legal operations community, it’s all about learning from others.

Those events are very helpful because I often ask myself, “How do I stay current?” In the webinars, you get other people’s questions and feedback from the speakers on how they’ve approached challenges. I always find that helpful, especially because I can refer to it if a similar situation arises. The webinars are a great resource.