Melius

That’s stumps for me in 2024. This is home for the next few weeks as we settle in for some sunshine and cricket. See you all in 2025. #legalops #mcg #cricket

Seasons greetings from Melius. Sending our best wishes to you and your families for a wonderful Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

If you don’t evolve, you become irrelevant. Well that was different… It’s Friday, so I’ll spare the contrived comparisons between darts (not the ally pally one, the other one) and legal team transformation. Perhaps other than to observe; if you don’t evolve, you become irrelevant. Happy weekend everybody! Arrows! #darts #change #notallypally #legal #legalops

Everything changes It’s 30 years since I was at University of Birmingham and it’s fair to say the city has changed beyond recognition in that time. And change was very much the subject of my visit to Shoosmiths Birmingham office yesterday. In particular, how we change the way in which in-house legal teams and law firms work together, to deliver better outcomes for both. It was a real pleasure to spend the afternoon with Shoosmiths Commercial department - paralegals, trainees, associates and partners - talking about how we can make our contribution to changing the way in-house teams operate. Helping to create the conditions for them to thrive. Chatting over beer and pizza whilst enjoying the view over a much changed city was a perfect way to end the day. #change #legalops #inhouselegal #lawfirms

Powering up in-house teams with Legal Operations It was great for Lucy Powell and I to spend time with Shoosmiths London partners today, bringing to life their new Legal Operations Consulting offering. We're already seeing fantastic engagement from the firm's clients who recognise the positive impact that legal ops can have. It is quite simply transforming the way legal teams work. By streamlining processes, automating tasks, and leveraging technology, Legal Ops empowers teams to be more efficient, effective, and strategic. We also got to spend time in one of the coolest law firm basements we've seen - and there have been a few! #legalops #shoosmiths #lawfirms

Law firm costs devouring your budget? Managing external law firm costs remains a top priority for General Counsel. That's not news - what's different is how some teams are tackling it. Here's what actually works: 1. Good data drives better decisions This means figuring out your starting point. Mapping your spending patterns before making changes. For bigger teams, this means having the right e-billing technology. This will often pay for itself through better visibility and billing control. 2. Size matters with panels. Too many firms dilute your leverage. You cease to be a priority client for any of them and that feeds through to service and cost. It's always good to be on a list of priority clients for a firm and that comes with a share of wallet. 3. Partnership beats procurement. Transform firm relationships into strategic alliances. When you create space to innovate together, remarkable things happen. 4. Keep controls robust and processes simple. Guide firm selection and pricing, but make the process easy. The best framework? Ask your team to spend like it's their own money. 5. Measure what matters Track responsiveness, budgets, diversity, and satisfaction. Regular reviews keep everyone focused on what matters. 6. Open Communications The best relationships thrive on open dialogue about improvements, innovation, and strategic priorities. The punchline? Bringing in legal operations expertise to drive this change pays for itself. Every time. The savings from more strategic sourcing decisions more than cover the investment. What's your experience with controlling external spend? Have you found unexpected wins along the way? #LegalOperations #InHouseLegal #LegalTransformation #GeneralCounsel #Melius #LegalStrategy

We’re pleased to introduce our Legal and Compliance Operations team through a strategic collaboration with two highly experienced consultants, John Bennett and Lucy Powell. The collaboration, part of Shoosmiths EIGHT, represents a significant enhancement of the firm’s client offerings, reinforcing Shoosmiths’ position as a trusted business partner by driving greater client value through improved operational efficiency. Read more: https://lnkd.in/exG4KeBU

We’re into day 5 of running a series of workshops with a client and there’s nothing like the pressure of leading a session to make me focus.    At the same time, my daughter who’s starting year 11 and has GCSEs next summer says that elaboration is a great method for revision – ie talking about a topic with others and sharing your knowledge (cue some rather challenging dinnertime discussions on quadratic equations!) Both of these have a common theme known as the protégé effect - a teaching theory that explaining material to others reinforces a student's understanding. Put simply, learn the material as if you’re going to teach it to others and then teach it to others in reality. A lawyer is a legal subject matter expert but an in-house lawyer has to really understand the business they work in.  So for that next information-sharing session with the business, why not take the opportunity to learn and challenge yourself and offer to run it on their behalf? Eek! Let me know how you get on! #protegeeffect #legalops #inhouselawyer

It’s back to school and back to work for many this week. Always a bittersweet moment as summer slips into the past - although our COO, Percy, seems unmoved! Lifetime memories of family time stay strong and there is the buzz of new beginnings in the air. It’s a super exciting time for businesses such as ours to push on and build new relationships and deepen existing ones. More on that soon… For those new followers over the summer, I’m John, Founder and CEO of Melius, a legal operations and legal tech consultancy. Prior to setting up Melius I was General Counsel at Bank of Ireland and most recently COO of the Legal and Regulatory division at Santander. That experience of leading and transforming teams is a real advantage as we help clients navigate their current challenges - not least how best to leverage legal tech in your operating model. Our mission at Melius is to help optimise the operations of in-house legal teams. To become more efficient, to allow your people to flourish and to help you deliver more with less. If you’d like to find out more, please drop me a message. #backtowork #legalops #inhouselegal

Melius is delighted to be collaborating with Georgia Morgan-Wynne and Nikki Newton of Taylor Root on this Legal Ops Workshop. Designed to help General Counsels understand and build legal operations capabilities that deliver real business value. General Counsel Workshop Overview: 🌟 Building Your Legal Operations Capability 📅 Thursday, 10 October 2024, 8:30 am - 10:30 am BST 📍 Central London (In-person event) The workshop will provide you with actionable insights and strategies you can implement immediately to enhance your legal team's performance. What to Expect: 🌐 Understand the meaning and importance of legal operations 📈 Learn how to start your legal operations journey 📊 Discover how to demonstrate the value of your legal team 🛠️ Identify the essential skills needed for success ✨ Don’t miss this opportunity to unlock your team’s potential and deliver tangible results. To find out more and register your interest please visit: https://lnkd.in/enRccRDm #Legaloperations #Generalcounsel #Inhouselegal