Legal operations roles are gaining traction in many law firms. However, unlike corporate legal departments, finding someone in a law firm that has “legal ops” in their title is still fairly uncommon. Firms’ structure, and not their functions, may be to blame.

It may be tempting to say legal ops roles originated in corporate legal departments. However, a glance at the knowledge management, financial management and tech and process support functions listed in the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC)’s competencies reference model highlights areas law firms have long targeted.