The Legal Department Service Charter defines the legal services the legal department has agreed to provide to the internal client, together with the standards under which those services will be delivered.

In many organisations, the service charter exists as an internal document used by legal to manage workload and expectations. 

Within the Internal Client Line, however, this station is about something more fundamental: ensuring the internal client understands what legal has committed to deliver.

If internal clients do not understand the service charter, they will default to assumptions — about turnaround times, responsiveness, prioritisation, and scope. 

Those assumptions almost never align with the legal team’s actual capacity, resourcing model, or risk posture.

The service charter is the commercial promise legal makes to the business. If that promise is not visible and understood, dissatisfaction and friction are inevitable.

The Legal Dept. Service Charter should clearly communicate the following to internal clients:

◼️ Services Offered: The categories of legal services available to the business.

◼️ Service Levels: Expected response times and delivery standards.

◼️ Prioritisation Logic: How legal work is triaged and ranked.

◼️ Turnaround Expectations: Indicative timelines by work type.

◼️ Engagement Channels: How legal services are requested and managed.

◼️ Client Dependencies: What legal requires from the business to deliver effectively.

◼️ Escalation Pathways: When and how service issues may be escalated.

◼️ Service Exclusions: What is not covered by the charter.

◼️ Use of External Counsel: When matters may be referred externally.

◼️ Review Mechanisms: How service commitments are reviewed and adjusted.

The Legal Dept. Service Charter station is considered a Foundational and Repeater resource within the GLS Legal Operations model.

A Foundational Resource: Is responsible for determining the overall performance capabilities of a “critical” legal function. If it is not optimised, the function can never be optimised. 

A Repeater Resource: Supports the performance of multiple "critical" legal functions and as such represents a "ripple effect" productivity intervention point. 

A Specialist Resource: Is responsible for driving the performance of a very specific part of an individual legal function. Its productivity contribution is limited to that single legal function. 

The best practice features of a Legal Dept. Service Charter include:

◼️ Client-Facing Language: Written for non-lawyers.

◼️ Clear Service Definitions: No ambiguity around what is included.

◼️ Realistic Commitments: Aligned to actual legal capacity.

◼️ Transparent Prioritisation: Trade-offs are explained openly.

◼️ Alignment with the Legal Mandate: No conflict between role and service.

◼️ Operational Integration: Reflected in intake and workflow processes.

◼️ Leadership Endorsement: Supported by senior management.

◼️ Accessibility: Easy for internal clients to find and reference.

◼️ Feedback-Driven Evolution: Updated based on client experience.

◼️ Training Reinforcement: Embedded into onboarding and education.

A clearly understood Legal Dept. Service Charter delivers business value by:

◼️ Setting Expectations: Reducing uncertainty around legal support.
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◼️ Improving Planning: Allowing business teams to plan timelines more accurately.

◼️ Reducing Friction: Fewer disputes over responsiveness and priority.

◼️ Supporting Faster Delivery: Clear service definitions streamline engagement.

◼️ Enhancing Trust: Legal is seen as reliable and disciplined.

◼️ Improving Decision Quality: Clear engagement rules improve outcomes.

◼️ Reducing Escalations: Fewer surprises mean fewer conflicts.

◼️ Aligning Resources: Legal effort matches business demand.

◼️ Supporting Growth: Scales more predictably as demand increases.

◼️ Strengthening Governance: Commitments are explicit and defensible.

For the legal department, a well-understood service charter provides:

◼️ Controlled Demand: More predictable work intake.

◼️ Stronger Prioritisation: Alignment between effort and value.

◼️ Reduced Noise: Fewer ad-hoc or unrealistic requests.

◼️ Improved Credibility: Commitments are visible and defensible.

◼️ Better Capacity Management: Enables workload planning.

◼️ Lower Conflict Levels: Expectations are set upfront.

◼️ Performance Measurement: Services can be measured objectively.

◼️ Analytics Enablement: Service-based reporting becomes possible.

◼️ Stronger Client Relationships: Fewer misunderstandings.

◼️ Transformation Readiness: Supports more advanced operating models.

The Legal Dept. Service Charter is essential for:

◼️ Business Unit Leaders

◼️ Commercial and Sales Teams

◼️ Procurement and Sourcing Teams

◼️ Finance and Risk Functions

◼️ Project and Transformation Teams

◼️ Compliance Teams

◼️ Legal Operations Teams

◼️ Senior Executives

◼️ New Joiners

◼️ External Advisors working with the business

Where the Legal Dept. Service Charter is unclear or poorly understood, organisations experience:

◼️ Unrealistic Expectations: Legal is perceived as slow or unresponsive.

◼️ Constant Firefighting: Everything is treated as urgent.

◼️ Poor Prioritisation: High-value work competes with low-value requests.

◼️ Internal Friction: Frustration builds on both sides.

◼️ Escalation Overuse: Issues are pushed senior unnecessarily.

◼️ Capacity Drain: Legal effort is wasted on rework.

◼️ Service Inconsistency: Different teams receive different outcomes.

◼️ Weak Performance Visibility: No baseline for measuring delivery.

◼️ Erosion of Trust: Legal credibility declines.

◼️ Transformation Failure: More advanced legal ops initiatives stall.

Supporting the Legal Dept. Service Charter requires:

◼️ Service-Level Configuration: SLAs embedded into workflows.

◼️ Request Intake Alignment: Service categories reflected in LSRFs.

◼️ Automated Prioritisation: Triage based on service definitions.

◼️ Performance Tracking: Visibility into service delivery metrics.

◼️ Dashboards & Reporting: Real-time service insight.

◼️ Escalation Triggers: System-supported escalation rules.

◼️ Client Visibility: Status tracking for internal clients.

◼️ Knowledge Integration: Links to playbooks and self-help tools.

◼️ Scalability: Service models adapt as demand grows.

◼️ Change Management: Easy updates as services evolve.