Balancing Risk, Cost and the Driving Need to be Effective

Interview with Mike Lipps, Managing Director, Corporate Counsel Solutions, LexisNexis

By Staff Writer

Published on Dec 16, 2010

It used to be that the primary mission of the corporate legal department was to protect the company from risk. "It’s not new news that things have changed," says Mike Lipps, vice president and managing director of corporate counsel solutions for LexisNexis. "In- house counsel now must balance minimizing risk while controlling costs."

Fortunately, there are solutions available. First, Lipps recommends that general counsel identify their core competencies, then look to outsource other areas. "You need to determine what you want to own, and what you want to leverage," he says.

In-house counsel should also look at their fundamental business processes to see where they can improve.

Technology can also help balance all the different areas that today's legal departments may struggle with. "Look for tools that can help," Lipps says. He pointed to LexisNexis’s CounselLink, which is designed to help legal departments manage matters and expenses with one solution that is configured to match existing business processes. With this type of integrated, analytical technology, legal departments can gain greater visibility into their performance by having information and metrics at their fingertips.

"General counsel know what they need to do, but they struggle to get access to the data," he says. "These steps can help in making more intelligent decisions."

For more information visit www.lexisnexis.com/counsellink.