Corporate legal departments have always relied on nonlawyers, whether they be paralegals or administrators to enable them to work more effectively. But with the rising amount of work they face, alongside budget strains that show no sign of letting up, legal departments are realizing they need far more support than ever before.

The growth of legal operations teams in-house is filling this gap—and for the opening keynote panelists at the Association of Corporate Counsel's Legal Operations Conference in Chicago, the rise of such teams is only beginning. But deploying legal operations staff in-house is not as simple as hiring a few skilled technicians or administrators. For the corporate professionals managing and directing legal operations who spoke at the keynote, there are many parts to this equation:

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1. Get Support from the GC and C-Suite

Like any new in-house team, the legal operations department will flourish or fail depending on the amount of support they receive from the top officers of the legal department and overall company. And this support needs to be more than just purely financial or operational.