In 2024, corporate legal teams will once again have to play a crucial role in all major strategic decisions, while staying on the lookout for emerging regulatory and technological changes. In this article, we look back at the priorities, challenges and areas of interest that will mark the year, to give you a head start and anticipate the major trends to come.

One watchword: efficiency

Being effective at each stage of a given process is a top priority for legal managers. At the moment, teams are too often trying to streamline their processes and to achieve more despite limited resources. It is therefore crucial to implement more efficient ways of working that fully meet the company's development challenges.

So, you don't have time to waste navigating through cross-functional bottlenecks. Strategic processes that allow you to move quickly and easily collaborate with other departments are therefore essential.

When looking to optimize your productivity, technology can be a valuable ally, as mentioned in previous articles. Delegate manual tasks with the right technology allows you to devote time to more strategic legal missions that provide real added value to your work.

The imperative of the contract manager

Optimizing contract management has emerged for several years as another popular theme and is often defined as a strategic priority. There are many who emphasize the importance of a seamless and consistent workflow on the subject.

Undoubtedly, your team faces complex obstacles too often, whether they are new ones. regulatory changes Or of difficult negotiations. When the flow from the creation of the contract to its revision and then its signature is simple and well communicated, it relieves many employees and optimizes the fluidity of your work.

So to speak, a productive legal team is a team that is on the same page. She knows where access contract data that she needs and she is confident in the execution process different types of agreements. Instead of getting bogged down in manual tasks, every lawyer is in a position to work quickly while knowing that nothing is left to chance.

The focus on compliance

The topics of data confidentiality And of conformity are among those who question legal professionals the most. And for good reason, the regulatory landscape is constantly changing and new data privacy laws are enacted every year.

Reviewing your contracts is therefore an important first step in ensuring that you are ready to respond when laws change. Of regular contractual audits can also help you monitor your risk level and identify agreements that need to be updated to ensure compliance.

To do this, your CLM can automate manual activities such as the management of specific confidentiality clauses and the identification of risky contracts. You can maintain a set of data privacy-specific terms for new agreements and even rely on AI to extract terms that are essential to privacy signed contracts.

Making the switch to AI

We have emphasized this extensively in our previous articles: AI has surfaced like any other hot legal topic among practitioners eager to understand the most effective ways to use it to speed up and streamline their daily flows.

But it doesn't end there. Legal teams are also looking to delve into potential business risks and ethical issues surrounding AI. With so many advances and emerging applications in AI, it can be difficult to separate out media sensationalism. There is no shortage of media coverage on AI, but legal teams are still working to understand its long-term impact about their profession.

Legal professionals who use AI to accelerate productivity and spend time on more strategic tasks are ahead of the curve. By staying curious and open-minded about how AI can be integrated into your processes, you could save time, money, and a healthy dose of comfort at work.