Legal Operations Tools: Standardisation & Legal Templates

Here is our recommended list of standard legal dept. “operational templates” that should be maintained by an optimal performing in-house legal team seeking to harness the power of standardisation to drive legal team efficiency.

The point of a template is to ensure that legal dept. functions can be prosecuted in an efficient and qualitative manner. The point of standardization is to have everyone using the same templates as intended.

For in-house legal departments struggling to improve legal team efficiency and to consistently improve the quality of their legal advice – the standardized use of legal team templates is a safe, effective and efficiency tool to deploy. 

For example, if you want your legal team to process instructions effectively then the quality of the matter brief they receive from the business unit needs to be consistently high each and every time. Standard forms help achieve this. 

Now clearly each legal function will have a number of legal processes that are unique to their organization/team. This may require supporting templates beyond those listed below. 

The below template list focuses on templates that support legal departmental operational matters and intentionally excludes contract-type templates and policy docs. 

By working through the below list you can quickly audit the extent to which your legal dept is proactively leveraging standardization as a tool to increase efficiencies and drive the quality of your team’s legal work.

Templates that drive legal team efficiency

1. Matter Administration
   • Internal Briefing Memo
   • Escalation Approval Request
   • Legal Services Request Form
   • File Note Template
   • Meeting Note Template
   • To-Do List
   • Task Completion Report Template
   • Task Assignment Template 
   • Matter Update Template
   • Matter Closure Template
2. Workload Management
   • Weekly Busyness Report (Team Member)
   • Holiday/Sick/Maternal/Paternal Leave Cover Arrangement Template
   • Matter Handover Template
3. Standard Communication Templates
   • Letterhead
   • Internal Drafting Style Guide.)
   • Standard Report Template
   • Departmental Note Pad
4. Supply Chain
   • Vendor Onboarding Form
   • Vendor Offboarding Form
5. Document Management
   • Document Revision History Template
   • Document Template Approval Form
6. Matter Review Templates
   • Contract Review Report – Full Issues Review (Document & Email Version)
   • Contract Review Report – Issues Only (Document & Email Version)
   • Contact Risk Review Approval Form
7. Compliance Related
   • Group Legal Policy Departure
   • Potential Compliance Breach Notification
   • Compliance Obligation Reminder 
   • Whistleblower Submission Form
   • Compliance Confirmation Request
   • Conflict Waiver Form
   • Audit Request Template
   • Privacy Impact Assessment Form
   • Subject Access Request Response
   • Receipt of Gift Notice
   • Consent for Personal Data Storage
8. Disputes & Litigation
   • Legal Hold Notice Template
   • Letter of Demand
   • Privilege Claim (Rider)
   • Settlement Agreement Letter
   • Case & Desist Template
   • Potential Dispute Notice (Internal)
9. Corporate Secretarial 
   • Board Minutes
   • Board Resolutions
   • Board Meeting Agenda
   • Shareholder Resolution
   • Board Presentation Template
10. Project Management Templates
    • Project Team Directory
    • Project Team Availability Calendar
    • Project Issues Log Template
    • Meeting Minutes Template
    • Meeting Agenda Template
    • Project Conduct Rules
    • Project Feedback Request Form
11. Email Communications
    • Legal Disclaimer (Email Rider)
    • Privilege Claim (Email Rider)
    • Meeting Request (Email)
    • Out of Office Notification (Email) 
12. Contracting Related Precedents
    • Standard Contract Template
    • Standard Contact Schedule Template
    • Standard Checklist Template
    • Contract Notification
    • Contract Breach Notice
    • Termination Notice
    • Contract Dispute Notification
    • Change of Scope Request
    • Contract Renewal Request
    • Contract Amendment Request
    • Termination Letter Template
    • Contract Management Control Sheets
13. Legal Dept. Infrastructure
    • IP Asset Register
14. Legal Team Member
    1. Team Member Development Plan 
    2. Legal Team Member Suggestions
    3. Course Attendance Request Form
    4. Employee Warning Template
15. Department Management 
    • Annual Budget Template
    • Legal Team Performance Report
    • New Hire Request Template
    • New Resource Request Template
    • Incident Report Template 
    • Legal Budget Request Template
    • Complaint Receipt Acknowledgement Template
16. Legal Operations:
    • Standard Workflow Process Template
    • Invoice Approval Form
    • Law Firm Rating Form
    • Vendor Evaluation Form
    • Legal Ops Process Flow Chart Template
    • Legal Dept. Satisfaction Survey
    • Process / Dept Performance Report
    • Legal Dept. KPI Dashboard Template
    • Vendor Registration Template
17. Internal Client Dealings
    • Workload Forecast Request
    • Project Feedback Form
18. Know-How Submission Form
    • Valuable Know-How Submission
    • Training Event Notification
    • Standard Training Presentation PowerPoint
    • Training Attendance Report
    • Know-How Submission Pledge
19. External Counsel Dealings
    • Request For Fee Update
    • No Conflict Request
    • Request For Quotation
    • Law Firm Instructions Template
    • Confirmation Of Outstanding Emails
    • Relationship Management Meeting Request
    • Request for Proposal
    • RFP Evaluation Template

Templates & standardization drive legal function operations efficiency and standards

If your legal team were utilizing operational templates such as those above it would experience consistent high standards and more predictable operations. The collective standard would consistently improve.

If you are a General Counsel/Head of Legal – you should set the standards and decide how you want things done. By calibrating the content and the way your templates are used, your standards become the teams’ standards. 

As a final thought, imagine now if each of these templates was instantly available to your in-house counsel at any moment via the click of a button.  That would be GLS Clause Bank – learn more here.