Domain’s in-house Legal team often reviews high volumes of advertising review work in short timeframes. To address volume issues, they looked externally to find a legal tech solution that would allow the team to focus instead on high-value, strategic work.
Here, Daphne Koffel, in-house counsel for Domain, explains the challenges the business was facing and how the solution transformed the way they work.
Improving Management of High-Volume Work
We were experiencing several challenges in our advertising review workstream. These were brought about by:
- unpredictable volumes of advertising review work; and
- difficulty juggling competing timelines and priorities.
Because the volume of advertising review work was so high, we prioritised requests from the business by using a spreadsheet process. We committed to a five-day turnaround on all review requests, but only if:
- the request had been added to the spreadsheet;
- it had been confirmed by a manager that the collateral was ready for review.
This was a very manual and time-consuming process for both the Legal and Marketing teams.
The volume of advertising review requests also created some practical challenges. There was a lot of back and forth of emails required to finalise the review. It was a huge challenge to save and organise these email threads at such high volumes.
Finding The Right Fit
We realised that we needed an extra pair of hands to help us manage the volume of advertising review work. We knew we wanted to work with an external law firm who would have a dedicated team, as well as innovative technology to help streamline the review process.
However, we knew we didn’t want just any external law firm. Domain needed a provider that could give us a dedicated team of people who would be available to support, collaborate and work seamlessly with the Marketing team, as well as the in-house Domain Legal team.
We wanted a provider who:
- we could build a rapport with, who would work collaboratively with our Legal team;
- didn’t just take the workload away and cut us out entirely – we wanted to stay across it; and
- who wouldn’t just do the black and white legal review without considering the commercial strategy or context behind it.
We knew early on we were looking for a partner, not just a provider. So we turned to LegalVision.
Continue reading this article below the formDesigning An Innovative Solution
The experience was quite cathartic!
The design workshop was an opportunity to get all the stakeholders together in one room. It opened a dialogue that would not have otherwise been prioritised.
The workshop gave me an understanding of how the Marketing team had been finding the process and the opportunity to hear their ideas on how we could improve it. It was a really useful exercise to step back from the day-to-day and have a big picture discussion as a group.
The design workshop provided plenty of ‘lightbulb’ moments. We learnt about what was working well in our current process and what we could improve on. One of the most important outcomes was confirming that the Marketing team wants to work closely with the Legal team and that it is important to them that the Legal team is accessible and responsive. We also all agreed that we needed a better way of capturing the back and forth of emails so that we had all past approved claims and positions available in one place.
LegalVision facilitated the design workshop really well. Everyone felt safe to put forward their views. We delved into areas and uncovered challenges that we might not have otherwise had the opportunity to explore.
Freeing Up Time
Today, our day-to-day advertising review work is completed through LegalVision’s Advertising Review product. I have visibility over the advertising collateral and LegalVision’s advice to the extent that I need to. We also have weekly catch-ups with LegalVision to discuss future campaigns, commercial strategy and claims.
I have found that now I can oversee our advertising activities from a more strategic level, which means I can deliver so much more value to the business. I also know that at any time I can access all past reviews, approved claims and positions in one centralised and auditable bank.
From the Marketing teams’ perspective, I think they have built a strong relationship with LegalVision. LegalVision is very accessible, on the phone and in person. LegalVision has also been very amenable to working within the Business and adopting our working style. The LegalVision team go out of their way to service the Marketing team in the way that our in-house team does.
I believe the Marketing team regards LegalVision as an extension of their in-house Legal team.
A Final Word
My key piece of advice is don’t fear change and don’t fear letting go!
We invested in LegalVision upfront and it has repaid so much, many times over! LegalVision is invested in Domain and understands our business objectives and risk appetite.
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