Job duties vary for legal operations specialists based on their title, type and level of education, the type and size of employer, and other factors. For example, a legal operations specialist who works in the large legal department of a Fortune 500 company may have very specialized duties and focus on only one or two areas, such as contract management and billing. At a small company, they may be the only LOS or part of a team of two or three legal operations specialists and handle a myriad of tasks.
Whatever their job title, training, or employer, all legal operations specialists work to improve the day-to-day efficiency and effectiveness of the lawyers, paralegals, and other professionals in their legal department, while also controlling costs. Primary responsibilities for LOSs include managing vendor and client relationships (including overseeing the use of e-billing software); supervising the contract lifecycle management process, seeking ways to streamline the process; providing guidance on creating, negotiating, and storing contracts; and ensuring that all legal team records are stored in secure, organized file systems, as well as creating document retention and destruction policies and legal hold processes. Technology management is also an important task for legal operations specialists. They oversee their department’s software and hardware, create plans for technology upgrades, integrate new technologies (such as advanced data analytics software and artificial intelligence, including machine learning), and listen to various use cases and complaints from legal professionals to improve efficiency and address problems. Some specialists maintain and update their department’s internal Web site (which is used for inter-office communication, training, and professional development). Other areas of focus for legal operations specialists include e-discovery, litigation and intellectual property management, recruiting and retention support, employee training, regulatory compliance, and organizational design and strategic planning.
- Accountants
- Agricultural Consultants
- Arbitrators
- Auditors
- Automotive Dealership Owners
- Bail Bondsmen
- Bailiffs
- Bank Examiners
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- Billing Clerks
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- Bodyguards
- Bookkeeping and Accounting Clerks
- Border Patrol Agents
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- Buyers
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- Civil Litigation Lawyers
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- Economists
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- Ethical Sourcing Officer
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- Secretaries
- Security Consultants
- Security Guards
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- Statisticians
- Stenographers
- Strategy Managers
- Tax Attorneys
- Tax Managers
- Temporary Workers
- Traffic Managers
- Typists and Word Processors
- Workplace Diversity Experts
