The Group Shared Services station is about recognising that in a group structure, legal work is often duplicated – unnecessarily – across multiple entities. It’s about asking a simple but powerful question: “Do we really need to replicate legal capability in every business unit, or can we centralise it and do it better?”

This station focuses on identifying common legal work types – NDAs, contract reviews, compliance checks, legal research, template generation – that are required across the group and can be delivered more efficiently by a single, centralised legal support unit. Once standardised, these tasks can be automated, scaled, and delivered faster and cheaper – often without needing to engage external counsel at all.

Smart companies are already doing this. Some are even turning their internal shared legal services into revenue-generating units by offering support to external clients. GLS excels in this space – helping legal teams design, build, and operate shared service centres that reduce costs by up to 80%, while improving consistency, speed, and control.

This station is not about cutting corners – it’s about cutting duplication. It’s about building a legal function that scales with the business, not against it.

The scope of the Group Shared Services station includes:

◼️Common Work Type Identification: Mapping legal tasks that are repeatable across group entities and suitable for centralisation.

◼️Service Catalogue Development: Defining the legal services offered by the shared unit (e.g. NDAs, low-risk contracts, compliance support).

◼️Centralised Delivery Model: Establishing a shared legal support function that services multiple business units or jurisdictions.

◼️Standardisation & Automation: Creating uniform templates, workflows, and rules to enable automation and reduce manual effort.

◼️ALSP Integration: Leveraging providers like GLS to deliver overflow or specialist support at scale.

◼️Performance Management: Tracking delivery metrics such as turnaround time, cost per task, and internal satisfaction.

◼️Governance & Escalation: Defining roles, responsibilities, and escalation paths for complex or high-risk matters.

◼️Scalability Planning: Designing the shared service to grow with the business and potentially serve external clients.

In GLS legal ops speak – the Group Shared Services is considered a “Foundational” resource within the process ecosystem of an in-house legal team.

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

The best practice features of Group Shared Services are as follows:

◼️Defined Service Catalogue: A clear list of legal services that the shared unit will deliver, with eligibility criteria.

◼️Standardised Workflows: Uniform processes and templates that reduce variation and enable automation.

◼️Tiered Support Model: Differentiated service levels based on task complexity and business priority.

◼️Centralised Knowledge Base: A repository of templates, FAQs, and guidance accessible across the group.

◼️Tech-Enabled Delivery: Use of workflow tools, automation platforms, and dashboards to manage service delivery.

◼️Integrated ALSP Support: Seamless handoff to GLS or other ALSPs for high-volume or overflow work.

◼️Performance Dashboards: Real-time tracking of service metrics and user satisfaction.

◼️Scalable Architecture: Designed to expand across jurisdictions and potentially serve external clients.

The Group Shared Services station delivers the following value to the Business:

◼️Significant Cost Savings: Reduces external legal spend by centralising and automating repeatable work.

◼️Faster Turnaround: Centralised teams deliver standardised work more quickly and predictably.

◼️Improved Consistency: Uniform templates and processes reduce legal risk and improve quality.

◼️Scalable Legal Support: Legal services can grow with the business without proportional increases in cost.

◼️Better Budget Control: Centralised tracking of legal work and spend supports accurate forecasting.

◼️Internal Capability Building: Reduces dependency on external counsel by developing in-house expertise.

◼️Resource Optimisation: Frees up senior lawyers to focus on strategic, high-value work.

◼️Operational Visibility: Centralised tracking provides insight into legal demand and performance.

◼️Process Control: Standardisation improves compliance and reduces rework.

◼️Cross-Functional Collaboration: Shared services foster cooperation across business units and jurisdictions.

◼️Innovation Platform: Creates a foundation for legal tech deployment and continuous improvement.

◼️Enhanced Credibility: Demonstrates to the business that legal is operating as a modern, scalable function.

The Group Shared Services station is essential for:

◼️General Counsel

◼️Heads of Legal Operations

◼️Legal Team Leads

◼️Procurement and Vendor Management Teams

◼️CFOs seeking legal spend accountability

A legal team operating without a Group Shared Services model will face a wide range of inefficiencies including:

◼️Duplicated Legal Spend: Multiple business units paying for the same work externally.

◼️Inconsistent Legal Output: Variability in quality, risk posture, and turnaround times.

◼️Underutilised Internal Talent: Legal resources siloed and unable to scale.

◼️Slow Delivery: Fragmented processes lead to delays and bottlenecks.

◼️Missed Automation Opportunities: No central platform for deploying legal tech.

◼️Limited Data Visibility: No consolidated view of legal demand or performance.

The Group Shared Services station strongly leverages technology. It requires:

◼️Workflow Automation Tools: For intake, triage, and task routing.

◼️Knowledge Management Systems: To store and share templates, playbooks, and FAQs.

◼️Performance Dashboards: To track service delivery and user satisfaction.

◼️Collaboration Platforms: To enable cross-functional teamwork and communication.

◼️Integration with ALSPs: Seamless handoff of tasks to external partners like GLS when needed.

The GLS Knowledge Centre has a wealth of resources available for learning more about the importance of Group Shared Services and how you can effectively implement one - check out a few on the right.

The GLS Legal Operations Centre contains everything you need to effectively implement your own tailored Group Shared Services in a cost-effective and timely manner. Check out the resources linked on the right. 

Also, feel free to contact GLS to book a consult to discuss your Group Shared Services needs right here.