CCBJ sat down with Matt Fawcett, Chief Legal Officer & Chief Strategy Officer with DXC Technology to hear his perspective on the current state of legal operations, law departments as well as how talent and technology will continue to work hand-in-hand to fuel the success of organizations.
CCBJ: You have been a big supporter of Legal Operations your entire career. Why?
Matt Fawcett: World class Legal Operations is key to being a great General Counsel as one piece of a larger business, it is important to run the legal department in alignment with the business strategy and economic model. That means, among other things, organizing and managing a team to deliver high levels of service efficiently, effectively, and within appropriate cost envelopes. Doing that requires determining the right mix of internal professionals, outside counsel, ALSP’s, technology, and so forth. Legal Operations is, in my view, the best way to drive that strategic planning, careful budgeting, and technology and project management.
How did you originally get focused on legal operations?
I was intrigued by the value proposition early on in my career, visiting several emerging ALSPs in the early 2000s. As a GC, I realized that legal operations would expand the impact and reach of the legal team in several ways, including better and more agile budget management, and bringing some tools used by legal such as automated workflows, into the business. This helped make us better business partners generally and can change the perception of legal from corporate overhead to value-adders.
You will be attending the Running Legal Like a Business and are part of the GC community that partners with Legal Operations professional community. How do you see those cohorts coming together?
Slowly but steadily. There is absolutely a growing appreciation of the many things a top notch Legal Ops function can do for a Legal Department generally and a GC specifically, however, many companies are at different places in terms of adoption. I know there are still a lot of departments curious but not fully invested yet. Put simply: demands on legal teams are increasing, external costs are increasing, budgets generally are not. That is a great problem statement for Legal Ops.
What drew you to DXC Technology? How does the organization differentiate itself from other management consulting organizations?
There are three big reasons:
DXC is a large global company of 130,000 people. We have thousands of engineers and security experts in more than 60 countries around the world. Our scale and deep technical expertise allows us to manage gigantic, disparate, and complicated customer IT environments.
I have been fortunate to have served as a tech GC for a long time, but have never worked in an IT services company. It is fundamentally a different business model, which raises many different business and legal challenges, which is a great learning experience for me.
Raul Fernandez became the CEO 6 months ago and has significantly re-shaped the executive team. We are a relatively new, but experienced team and we believe strongly that there is a tremendous opportunity to transform the company and deliver shareholder value. Even though the company has an amazing multi-decade history, it also feels fresh and new.
How can law department executives best evaluate when to outsource v. insource?
Three primary thoughts:
At the macro level, I think you need to consider multiple issues like capacity, expertise, cost, speed, and risk. I think a few mistakes that are often made (and I have made myself) is answering the question too simply, for example just by the “high level / low level” separation of work or simply by chasing a cheaper cost per headcount.
I am a big proponent of leveraging ALSPs whether you have a large or small law department. But the key is to treat it as a strategic partnership that requires meaningful investment. I do not believe “Set it and forget it” and “Your mess for less” approaches are ultimately successful.
I would also advise executives to think about and evaluate outsourcing early and take time to consider different ALSPs. There are many good ones in the market, but they have different skills, capabilities, and sweet spots that may or may not map to your specific needs.
What is your advice to executives/organizations that are new to engaging with consultants?
Three pieces of advice – most things come in 3s for me:
Ask a ton of questions. Use their expertise not just to get a job done but to educate you as well.
If you can, start with a few small engagements before committing to a major project.
Stay engaged. “Set it and forget it” does not yield the best results in my opinion.
Let's talk about the importance of best in class tech alongside best in class talent.
I will take best in class talent over best in class tech every day of the week.
It is people, process, and technology … in that order
Personally I prefer proven, commercial, good enough tech over bleeding edge for most law department functions. From experience, you can burn a lot of time, money, and people (including your IT department) trying to develop bespoke solutions that never get into production. And once you have started making those investments, it is very hard to turn it off because of the “we’re almost there” syndrome.
What do you see as the next stage of development for high functioning law departments?
The obvious one is leveraging AI. I believe we are still in the early phase of the hype cycle and are not into real productivity gains with AI yet, but that is coming.
We still have not unlocked building true team engagement in hybrid and virtual environments, which are now fairly common. DXC is virtual and I have met less than 10 of my 400 teammates in my first 5 months here. For all the tools, resources, and articles about building team spirit and community in virtual environments, I still think there is more to do and opportunity still to unlock.
There has been a trend of GCs taking on more responsibilities and roles. Indeed I took on the Chief Strategy Officer role at NetApp in my final years there. I suspect that trend will continue. But I also think it is a challenge to be dual-hatted.
Published August 31, 2024.
