The in-house legal world has undergone a seismic shift over recent years, with mounting regulatory complexities, evolving expectations, and the emergence of new technologies. At the forefront of supporting in-house legal professionals in navigating this changing landscape is the Centre for Legal Leadership (CLL).
Founded in 2016, CLL serves as a hub of community, knowledge, and professional development tailored to the unique challenges faced by in-house teams. From its roots in addressing the distinct needs of in-house lawyers to its embrace of non-legal professionals in adjacent roles, CLL has become an indispensable resource for personal and team growth.
This interview with Rebecca Cater delves into the mission behind CLL, the evolving needs of in-house legal teams, and the centre's ongoing commitment to equipping its members with the tools to excel in an increasingly complex world.
Can you tell us a bit more about CLL and why the centre was created?
The Centre for Legal Leadership (CLL) was created in 2016 as a community and knowledge space for those working in in-house legal teams.
At the time there was a lack of recognition that an in-house role is a totally different ballgame than working in private practice, and often little in the way of support for in-house teams dedicated to developing their legal skill-set, which calls upon a whole host of business skills and relationship strategies.
Hence CLL was born - very soon into our journey we recognised the same need for other non-legal roles that fall into the CLL space and naturally welcomed these into the community – e.g. Company Secretaries, Heads of Compliance and Risk and Claims and Loss Adjusters to name a few.
CLL offers personal and team development training, webinars, coaching, mentoring, networking and clinics, that are all fully supported by our extensive knowledge library available on our purposefully built website.
How do you identify the key themes and topics for your annual program of training and events?
I'm often asked this, and the answer is simple - by listening.
Every day the CLL team are engaged with our incredible community, whether in-person or online, and what we hear is fed directly into the programme. We also have an eye on the horizon and consider how this may directly affect businesses and the in-house role.
CLL has an amazing team of contributors, coaches, trainers and we can call upon our special relationship with RPC to bring our members their expertise – all feeding into our comprehensive program.
Over the years, how have the professional development needs of in-house lawyers changed? Are there any surprising trends?
The biggest change we've seen and recognised, and no surprise here, is that working in-house requires an additional skill-set and different support to those in private practice.
An effective (and supported) in-house team is a huge asset for a business, and offers significant value, investing in the team and individual's development can have a significant impact.
The unique helicopter view is shared by very few in a business, utilising the lawyer/commercial partner mindset in the initial planning, involvement in all negotiations, calling upon numerous stakeholders' relationships etc demonstrates the special worth this collaborative team can bring.
“Horizon scanning is a must and should go hand in hand with adjustments to the business's risk matrix.”
How has the rise of legal technology and innovation influenced the demands and expectations of CLL's audience?
There's often a perception that legal tech is at the top of an in-housers concerns, this couldn't be further from what we see. In-house teams can often lag behind in legal tech, as the focus is on business as usual, and the approach is often to tweak systems already being used within the wider business rather than implementing new tech.
One area where change is happening however, is in legal operations, with many organisations introducing a specific legal operations role. Recognising the importance of this role is a huge breakthrough and is being seen more and more in the UK following trailblazer work of CLOC, initially in the States. The focus can now be on maximising the value and efficiency of the team with tech purpose-built to support the team rather than having to fit within a predetermined functionality.
What trends have you observed in how legal teams approach risk and compliance in today’s fast-changing regulatory environment?
The complexity of regulation especially over which regulatory power "trumps" another, and adding in international factors are the biggest trends we've seen. The in-house legal team is usually stretched with BAU and major project work. We are seeing law firms assist with sector and company specific regulatory publications and sessions providing vital support.
Are there particular areas of regulation such as ESG, data privacy, and AI that have sparked heightened interest or concern among CLL members?
All examples mentioned are discussed regularly, but the one which jumps out is data privacy. The highlighted cases of data breaches in the press are just the tip of this iceberg; regulatory investigations and fines coupled with negative brand reputation are of huge concern to in-house teams. The fast pace and sophistication of tech infrastructure add to the complexity and often fall outside of the legal team's expertise.
How can in-house legal teams stay ahead of regulatory developments, and what support does CLL offer?
Horizon scanning is a must and should go hand in hand with adjustments to the business's risk matrix. The volume of information hitting people's inbox makes this easier said than done. A few ways to manage new developments can be to ask your law firm to supply sector specific information.
Through this relationship current plans/strategy may be known so can also be factored in. Use subscriptions your organisation likely already has (e.g. Thomson Reuters PLC, Lexology etc) to set up alerts on areas of interest and subscribe to thought leadership publications like RPC's Regulatory Radar series.
Look for groups that cover areas most relevant to you and join (The Chancery Lane Project or Legal Geek, for example) and not forgetting CLL's own Future of Regulation Forum. This Forum provides an opportunity for senior lawyers (from major regulators and the organisations they regulate) to discuss topical issues in a safe, virtual environment under Chatham House rule.
Please contact us for more information on joining this Forum or any other aspects of CLL.
This was recently published in RPC's Regulatory Radar - Winter 2025 edition.
Regulatory Radar is a bi-annual guide to the key regulatory changes worth having on your radar.