Christie's general counsel Nick Deeming explains how his legal team used online tools to raise its game and focus lawyers' efforts up the value chain

Upon its creation in 2008, the Christie's legal and risk team – which comprises over 30 professionals – was faced with the significant challenge of establishing itself as a department capable of supporting all areas of the business while responding to the demands presented by the economy. To do this, we needed to enhance levels of risk control, as well as regulatory and code of conduct compliance, improve levels of service and aggressively control costs – particularly on external legal professional fees.

Early on, the team recognised that a technology-based approach would be needed to meet these objectives. A three-pronged approach was taken, focusing on:

  • the development of both internal and business-facing legal and risk intranet sites;
  • a web-based document assembly tool which enables automated contract generation by the business with controlled oversight by the legal team; and
  • the implementation of extranets with core external law firm panel members to enable collaborative working and knowledge sharing.

Key features

The internal-facing intranet, which is solely for the legal and risk team, has proved pivotal in enabling us to operate at peak effectiveness. Based on Microsoft Sharepoint and fully searchable, it delivers shared document and email management, collaboration on contract drafting and facilitation of global compliance projects such as anti-money laundering procedures and global risk registers. It has instilled a sense of team across the department worldwide, providing one repository for work and for the sharing of information and ideas.

In terms of email management, which has always been a particular challenge, a simple drag-and-drop solution has been implemented, enabling emails to be moved directly into relevant Sharepoint libraries. This means that not only can project emails be shared (enabling any lawyer to see the important context of any matter if they need to), but they are also centrally stored and backed up, rather than buried in individual lawyers' Outlook archives – helping to meet data retention requirements.

The business-facing intranet, available to the rest of Christie's, provides essential business information to internal customers anywhere in the world, online 24 hours a day. Features include rapid access to global contact information, easy to use compliance and risk procedure guidelines, and self-service tools such as granting of image licenses to third parties. This has provided improved visibility for the legal and risk team across an expanding global business and has enhanced access to and understanding of our function.

The intranet is quickly becoming the first port of call for the business in dealing with legal and risk questions, leading to faster and more informed decision-making. This is borne out by the figures, with usage increasing from 2,000 hits in the first four weeks to over 10,000 hits per month globally.

Of particular importance is a growing set of punchy 'Art Law Frequently Asked Questions' (FAQs). These have proved popular, saving time not only for the business users concerned but also for the legal team, who are thus freed to work on more complex or strategic matters. Further, because the FAQs provide a globally consistent set of guidelines, they not only improve service to the business but are a key tool in managing compliance and risk.

The same benefits apply equally to 'Contract Express', the new automated contract generation tool. This allows each of the 40 different specialist departments to generate sales contracts online, anywhere in the world, via online questionnaires. The solution has built-in logic, which redirects potentially risky agreements to the legal and risk department. Lawyers no longer need to become involved with everyday business agreements – only those that require fine-tuning for risk management and compliance reasons. At the same time, the legal and risk team knows that the contracts generated online by the business are safe, consistent and easily retrievable if there is a need for further advice.

The time saved as a result of the FAQs and the online contract generation tool has led to a reduced reliance on external law firms to pick up the slack. At the same time, the legal and risk team is collaborating with panel members to build extranet sites providing shared knowledge resources and an environment for joint working, including documentation drafting. Through this medium, the legal and risk team will be able to take advantage of updated advice archives and an extended set of FAQs which can be shared with the rest of Christie's. This not only ensures that advice received remains up to date, but also avoids unnecessary external fees and maximises the value of outsourced legal work.

The effect

The process of dealing with routine legal matters has become much more responsive, consistent and controlled. Lawyers are free to allocate a greater proportion of their time to strategic and complex matters, reducing the reliance on external law firms and thus cutting costs while also increasing job satisfaction.

Most importantly, it allows senior decision-makers within Christie's business to make informed and timely decisions in this fast-moving and complex business environment.

The future

The challenge for the coming year is to increase take-up by the business and build upon what has already been achieved.

For example, a 'Risk Management Framework' is under development, which will provide global online access for the business to legal, risk and code of conduct guidance ("What you need to know"), tailored by role, activity and geographical location.

The provision of these additional self-help tools and tailored knowledge resources will enable more standard work to be handled online, with the emphasis for the legal and risk team shifting ever more towards strategic advice.

Nick Deeming is general counsel and company secretary at Christie's.