Running Legal Like A Business - Ch. 17 - A Playbook for Playbooking

by An Trotter

Since process automation, optimization and contracting were hot topics at CLOC's Global Institute (#CGI2022), fitting that we pick back up on Connie Brenton and Susan Lambreth's book Running Legal Like A Business (PLI Press, 2021) with chapter 17 author Andy Banquer of Quislex to cover the key ingredients for a useful playbook. His playbook recipe is not specific to contracts and describes several common playbook types: How-to, Process, Contracting, and AI.  The last type is a set of business rules for a computer program to follow and is the focus of Ch. 18.

Banquer includes 7 brief checklists to help you create a playbook under the headings: Defining Scope, Defining Purpose, Targeting Audience, Drafting, Reviewing the Preliminary Draft, Publishing and Maintenance.

Currently, I'm in process of drafting 2 new playbooks: 

1.  Legal intake tool for requesters and for responders, and

2.  How to write business requirements for a tailor-made PowerAutomate contracts tool.

On the first, it is being road-tested during UAT when testers will be asked to provide feedback on the clarity of the playbook as well as the function of the tool itself.  The latter is a kit to be piloted with the initial client and refined. 

Following the example of Banquer, here's a partial list of playbooks I've created over the past decade:

Finance

  • Matter Budgets Guide *
  • Month-end Reconciliation and Budget Estimate Updates Guide *
  • Rates Review Guide* for Legal and Administrators; for Legal Service Providers
  • Matter Management and Legal Billing Guide for Finance and Legal Users; for Administrators
  • Legal Accruals Guide

Contracts

  • Contracts Tool Guide for Administrators; for Procurement Users with Legal Users Supplement; for Sales Teams
  • Contracts Playbook for All Agreement Types
  • NDA Agreement Review Process
  • Sales Agreement Review Process
  • Master Purchase Agreement Review Process for Procurement and Legal

Human Resources

  • On-boarding and Off-boarding Process Guide *
  • How to Verify Attorneys' Registration Status Guide

Knowledge Management

  • Legal Town Hall Call Producer Guide 
  • SharePoint Legal Portal Administrator Guide
  • CLE Program Administrator Guide for NY and CA

Other

  • Electronic Signatures Guide for Account and Organization Administrators
  • Legal Entity Management Guide for Administrators
  • Legal Hold, Preservation and Collection Guide for Administrators
  • Anti-Corruption Tool Guide for Administrators, for Internal Team; for Payees

Those with an asterisk (*) are Included in Ops in a Box, Legal Edition, which has 295 pages of content and over 30 templates, playbooks, and checklists, focusing on core areas to jump start your legal operations function.  

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