Main Navigation

  • About
    • About Us
    • Our Leadership
    • Technology Partners
    • Contact
  • Solutions
    • Our Approach
    • View All Solutions
    • Compliance
      • Overview
      • Anti-Corruption/Anti-Bribery Third-Party Screening
      • Compliance & Data Management
      • Compliance Data Analytics
      • Compliance & Ethics Agile Training Support Services
      • Compliance Operations
      • Cyber Solutions
      • Data Privacy
    • Contracts
      • Overview
      • MorAI Contract Analysis
      • CLM Optimization Assessment
      • Contract Lifecycle Management
      • Contracts Readiness Assessment
      • Managed Contract Services
    • Cyber Solutions
    • Discovery
      • Overview
      • Cyber Solutions
      • Data Solutions
      • Managed Review
    • Documents & Insights
      • Overview
      • Case Management
      • Document Management
    • Immigration
      • Overview
      • End-to-end Visa Petition Drafting Services
      • Immigration Legal Support Services
    • Legal Department Operations
      • Overview
      • Compliance
      • eDiscovery Managed Services
      • eDiscovery Managed Services
      • Enterprise Legal Management
      • Legal Department Assessment
      • Legal Spend Transformation
      • Managed Contract Services
      • On-Demand Resourcing
    • Law Firm Operations
      • Overview
      • Compliance
      • Contracts
      • Discovery
      • Immigration
      • Documents & Insights
      • Legal Administration
      • Litigation Support
      • Medical Legal Services
      • M&A Support
    • Medical Legal Services
      • Overview
      • Expert Witness Services
      • Mass Tort Support
      • Medical Negligence Case Analysis
      • Personal Injury Solutions
  • News and Insights
    • Insights
      • Articles
      • Webinars
      • Podcasts
      • White Papers
      • View All Insights
    • Case Studies
      • View All Case Studies
    • Morae News
      • View All News
  • Events
    • All Events
    • GC Forum
  • Careers
  • Speak to an Expert
    • About Us
    • Our Leadership
    • Global Locations
    • News
    • Contact
    • Cyber Solutions
    • Our Approach

    Compliance

    Create and run risk-focused, effective and efficient compliance programs with the help of Morae’s expertise and AI-driven solutions.

    • Anti-Corruption/Anti-Bribery Third-Party Screening

      Design screening programs based on risk profile.

    • Compliance & Data Management

      Deliver accurately and efficiently when regulations change.

    • Compliance Data Analytics

      Empowering compliance with meaningful data.

    • Compliance & Ethics Agile Training Support Services

      Design and implement effective training programs.

    • Compliance Operations

      Bespoke solutions that are effective for your culture.

    • Cyber Solutions

      Mitigating risks and bolstering security to protect your organization.

    • Data Privacy

      Ensuring data privacy remains front-of-mind for all staff.

  • Technology

    • Technology-enabled solutions for automation, data insights and genAI.

    • Automation & Data Insights

      Accelerate your decision making with data insights and tech-enabled processes.

    • MorAI Generative AI

      Working with our clients to build new solutions that solve legal challenges.

    • Morae Products

      Products and integrations from Morae that are designed exclusively for legal professionals.

    • Document Management Products

      Improve productivity with iManage add-ons designed exclusively by Morae.

    • Mind Factory

      Identify, curate and implement the right AI solutions for your unique business needs.

    • Technology Partners

      Delivering solutions from our hand-picked selection of technology partners.

  • Case Studies

    The challenges we help our clients overcome.

    Events

    • September 15 - 16, 2025

      Alternative Legal Management Summit

    Our Communities

    Insights

    By Type

    • Articles
    • Podcasts
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • All Insights

    By Solution

    • Compliance
    • Contracts
    • Discovery
    • Documents & Insights
    • Immigration
    • Law Department Operations
    • Law Firm Operations
    • Medical Legal Services

    Featured

    • Accelerate Your Workflow: Seamless Document Execution for In-House Corporate Legal Teams
    • Navigating the Data Deluge: How Morae Is Redefining eDiscovery for Financial Services
    • Navigating AI and Information Governance – Insights from Gimmal & Office Labs
  • Careers
Speak to an Expert
Company logo

Morae is trusted around the world for the delivery of digital and business solutions for a constantly changing legal industry.

+1 713-244-6000[email protected]

Stay in tune with change

We’ll keep you updated on all the trends and issues in risk, legal and compliance – just enter your email below.

  • Abu Dhabi
  • Bangalore
  • Cape Town
  • Chicago
  • Frankfurt
  • Hong Kong
  • Houston
  • London
  • New York
  • Sydney
  • Washington DC
  • Zurich

© 2025 Morae

  • Terms of Use & Disclaimer
  • Transparency in Coverage
  • Copyright Notice
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Support

Articles

The 1-2-3 Guide to Scaling a Legal Department

July 24, 2023

Solution

Market Insights

A general counsel measures the growth in productivity from scaling her legal department .

A benchmark study from Legal Dive highlights the primary concern for GCs regarding scaling their legal department—the drastic variances in team size. For example, companies with up to $1 billion in revenue typically have an average of three legal team members. However, that number jumps to 15 for companies with revenues up to $5 billion.

You may be scratching your head on questions about the optimal team size and the right time to expand. Our 1-2-3 guide to scaling provides a practical framework for solving these problems, giving you a sustainable path to success.

Key Takeaways

  • Scaling a legal department is not a grow-at-all-costs mission. Rather, your objective is to maximize the reach of your department and its operations with the available resources.
  • You need a firm sense of the current state of your legal department, the needs of your organization, and a vision for how your team will function.
  • Employ a variety of tactics in your scaling initiatives, including adopting technology to automate workflows and outsourcing to ALSPs to bridge scaling phases.

What Does It Mean to Scale a Legal Department?

Scaling a corporate legal department differs from the broad commercial meaning that encourages a grow-at-all-costs mentality. Rather, GCs focused on scaling need a refined approach that maximizes the footprint of your legal team without sacrificing spend management and productivity. This requires attention to three key issues:

  • A realistic understanding of your team’s current capabilities and deficiencies.
  • A prioritization of the organization’s current and future legal needs.
  • A vision for how your legal team will grow, change, or adapt to meet those needs.

Every legal department faces unique challenges due to factors like budget, personnel, industry, and geographic location. As a result, scaling efforts will vary across departments. For example, scaling could mean onboarding a new CLM system to automate contract review process. Alternatively, it could mean hiring an in-house attorney if the salary cost is less than the spend on outside counsel.

5 Steps to Scaling Your Legal Department

Below are our five keys to guide you in scaling your legal department into a robust and efficient machine.

Step #1: Take Stock of Your Current Legal Team and Its Operations

The first step in scaling your legal department is knowing where things currently stand. You need to have a grasp on each member of your team, their costs, their skill sets, and their career timeline.

Each is important for evaluating their place in the future scaling of the legal department and their potential for growth that could further benefit the team. You need to include the use of ALSPs and outside counsel when tallying the inventory of your legal team, identifying the unique attributes they bring to your organization.

Efficiency of operations is a leading priority for law departments, which is why GCs need a sustainable legal department scaling strategy to limit inefficiencies during growth phases.

Image from https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/content/dam/ewp-m/documents/legal/en/pdf/reports/2022-state-of-corporate-law-dept-report.pdf

Step #2: Make a List of Every Legal Need Your Organization Has

Now that you have a comprehensive understanding of your legal team, your next step is to compare it with a list of your organization’s legal needs. These are the deliverables your department provides day in and day out. While the specific operations will vary from company to company, most corporate legal department actions fall into the following categories:

  • Corporate governance and internal controls (e.g., employment agreements, company policies, training, minute books, documenting authority)
  • Regulatory compliance
  • Contract management with third parties
  • Risk management and conflict resolution
  • Business strategy

When writing your list, be as detailed and granular as possible. Next to each action, operation, or workflow, note who is responsible for its execution, whether it is an employee or outside counsel. Don’t confuse this list with everything your department currently does—this list should encompass everything your legal department should be doing. Consider this a wish list where, in an ideal world, your legal department would cover all areas instead of picking and choosing based on time and resource limitations.

GCs plan to scale their legal department and lower litigation costs by moving as much work in-house as possible.

Image from https://abovethelaw.com/2022/10/technology-emerges-as-top-concern-for-in-house-counsel/

Step #3: Anticipate Future Legal Needs Using Data Forecasts and Business Alignment

The first two steps focused on understanding your legal department’s current state. The third step looks toward the future. The legal needs of a company generally change in two ways over time. Your operations could grow in number as the company itself scales and does more business. For example, the number of contracts you manage could rapidly grow from hundreds to thousands or even millions.

Second, new legal operations could arise from decisions of your C-suite or external factors. For example, the company might acquire new intellectual property to license. For this, the legal department may need to manage those IP licensing agreements and provide pseudo-litigation support to deter infringement. Alternatively, government regulation outside your control could impose new filing or audit requirements on the legal department.

Identifying these needs in advance can be difficult without data and proper insight into the company’s intentions. Start tracking key data on the matters your team manages annually to determine growth rates and future demand. Meet regularly with other business units to understand their operational outlook and what that will mean for your legal department.

Step #4: Develop Your Vision for How the Legal Team Will Scale Over Time

With all the information collected in steps 1-3, you can properly see the bigger picture and begin to build your vision for scaling the legal department. As we mentioned earlier, your scaling initiatives could involve a variety of tactics, including the following:

  • Implementing technology updates to automate operations.
  • Hiring diverse skill sets to meet new or growing needs.
  • Training current legal talent to develop skills in demand.
  • Outsourcing to an ALSP or outside counsel.

No precise order exists for how you should scale, but prioritizing initiatives that yield the greatest ROI will lead to satisfaction from your C-suite. It could also unlock greater scaling opportunities with additional funding in the budget.

Step #5: Eliminate Redundant, Obsolete, or Inefficient Processes

Scaling a legal department is a cyclical process, and the final step involves reviewing current operations and removing items that no longer serve the best interests of the company or your legal team. This step aims to refine your process to maximize efficiency and create room for your team to accomplish other projects.

Meet with Morae’s Legal Design Experts for More Scaling Tips

Morae is an ALSP that prides itself on the use of data and technology to improve the operation and growth of corporate legal departments. Our legal design experts help you make the most of your resources and find innovative ways to meet the demands of your organization. Additionally, our litigation and research support services are fast and reliable, providing a natural extension of your legal team as a temporary or permanent solution during your legal department’s scaling phases.

Schedule a free consultation today.