The Anatomy of a Legal Org Chart
A legal organization chart typically refers to a chart that captures the various roles and relationships within the legal department of a company, or the firm. For either a legal department or a legal firm entity, an organization chart can be built by first identifying the major functional areas in the department or organization. Once the areas are identified, the organizational chart commonly depicts the interrelations between the various management areas. A common approach is to create regions within the chart that depict key functional areas. For example, in a legal department, the chief legal officer and general counsel would be at the top of the structure, and then underneath it would be the corporate department of the legal department, patent, and litigation departments . In this case, below those high-level departments would be the managers. The same could be done with a law firm, except instead of general counsel and corporate, there would be an office manager and the various areas of practice (e.g., intellectual property, litigation, labor and employment, etc.).
As a general rule, the individual areas of the organization chart will look similar for both legal departments and law firms, but the role of the department/firm within its respective parent company or organization will influence how the departments within its organization chart are structured.
Key Components of a Legal Org Chart
The substance of a Legal Organization Chart is no different than any other organization chart. There will be titles, roles, and reporting relationships to portray how the legal department of an organization is physically structured. The order of these elements is generally familiar, with a President or Chief Legal Officer at the top, followed by a General Counsel and/or chief lawyer. Below that individual you will find "practice" heads, and after that the team members. This presentation is not intended to be a guideline, but is based on decades of common practices by most corporate legal departments.
President or Chief Legal Officer: Often the head of the legal department will either report to the President of the business unit, or President of the overarching business itself. This senior officer has overall responsibility for the affairs of the company; he or she may be a Chief Executive Officer or president.
General Counsel (Chief Lawyer): The General Counsel will generally have the day-to-day responsibility for managing the legal department. Counsel may report to the President or Chief Legal Officer, depending upon the legal structure of the company. Counsel has overall responsibility for providing legal services as the company conducts its business. Counsel is often responsible for the management, direction, policy and overall control of a company’s legal department and outside counsel.
Practice Heads: This level of department head will oversee various aspects of the organization and how it operates at the top of the internal legal services model. These individuals are differ by discipline and title, including General or Senior Counsel, Corporate Counsel or Senior Manager, Partner, Senior Vice President, Legal Vice President, Associate General Counsel, Senior Associate General Counsel, Deputy General Counsel, Attorney, Counsel, and Associate Counsel.
Team Members: The lowest level of the legal department hierarchy is made up of the team players who report to the mid-tier level managers. The titles for this level of legal management often include Attorney, Associate, Assistant, Paralegal, or even Law Clerk.
Getting Started with a Legal Org Chart
An organization chart does not just show where everyone fits in the hierarchy, but also provides a snapshot of and visual access to the entire firm, department, office, and practice group. It provides context — who fits with whom — as well as alerts on how strong the firm’s bench is in certain areas. For example, is one litigator iffy if there are three trial lawyers already in the litigation department? Does the organizational chart show that there is no health care, real estate, or IP specialist in your practice group? If everyone is a generalist, how do you know whether you have the firm behind you?
Are there long gone chairs of nonexistent practice groups? Do you see synopsized versions of the same person repeated in several places? Are there gaps in the org chart where you would expect to see overlapping expertise, personalities, or co-chairs?
And sometimes an org chart can do more, like allow you to visualize a clear path to retirement. At other times, it can help you find a great mentor, build alliances, or simply find out who has a hidden interest in casino gambling.
More importantly, an org chart will help you establish lines of authority and job descriptions. You will see side-by-side who you are welcomed to approach by your firm’s leadership on your way to accomplishing your goal. You will also see who you should NOT approach before obtaining the some authority to make things happen. Do you have to shoulder into the Executive, Practice Group, Appellate, Retail, Digital Consumer, and Intellectual Property Marketing Meetings before writing a simple Legal Alert for your department? Or does your department’s practice group have its own meetings off-site?
Of course, sometimes you just want to know basic facts, like who the woman is in the portrait by the coffee station with playdates and apparent access to the phones at the office. What does she do there? What is the real position of that smiling lawyer lording over the rest of the group — what is her REAL title? (You can rely on the org chart for those answers — no need to waste your breath asking.)
And what about roles? Whether you are a happy newly-minted partner asked over drinks whether you would serve as President-elect of the Bar for two years, or whether you are still working under the tutelage of a senior lawyer, who is responsible for finding you a great real estate practice or California space for your own firm, or who takes credit when your clients are impressed, and who bears responsibility when your clients are confused by your work?
A clear legal org chart provides information missing from formal documents such as the attorney registration statements, firm descriptions, and practice marketing brochures. It will save you time. It will give you data that you can use to make a positive impression, get what you want (or what you deserve), grab onto professional opportunities, and help you protect your interests.
Creating an Effective Legal Org Chart – Steps You Must Take
When it comes to creating a legal organization chart, the process can often feel like trying to navigate a maze. However, with a clear approach, you can master this task and create a chart that is both informative and easy to understand.
Step 1: Gather Information
The first step in creating an effective legal organization chart is to gather all necessary information. This involves compiling a list of all current employees, their job titles, and their reporting relationships. You may need to consult various sources to obtain this information, such as HR, company directories, or even asking employees directly.
Step 2: Choose Your Format
There are several different formats that you can use for your legal organization chart, so it’s essential to choose the one that best suits your needs. The most common formats include:
- Hierarchical: This is the traditional pyramid-style chart that shows a clear chain of command.
- Matrix: This format is more flexible and allows for a more complex structure, with employees reporting to multiple managers.
- Circular: This format is used for more creative organizations and shows how different teams or departments work together.
- Create the Chart
One you’ve gathered all necessary information and chosen your format, it’s time to create the chart. There are several tools and software programs available to help with this process, or you can simply use a blank sheet of paper and a pencil. The key is to keep it simple and make sure that it is easy to read and understand.
Step 4: Update as Needed
Legal organization charts are not set in stone and should be updated regularly to reflect any changes within the organization. This could include new hires, promotions, or even layoffs. It’s essential to stay on top of these revisions to ensure that your chart is always accurate and up to date.
Creating a legal organization chart can be a daunting task, but by following these steps, you can create a chart that is both effective and user-friendly.
Typical Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
One of the most problematic errors is over-simplification as a means of trying to compensate for the lack of clarity. If a legal organization chart doesn’t unequivocally inform the reader as to who is responsible for what, its usefulness is diminished.
Columns and tables can also be used to illustrate any additional categorical distinctions among the lawyers. While there are some clear advantages to this type of legal org chart, one drawback is that it typically doesn’t depict the relationship between various lawyers and departments.
Some law department org charts are drawn with boxes and arrows, indicating the lines of reporting. Connections in these charts also include lines going in all directions , which leaves a lot open to interpretation.
Simply outlines legal department titles without specific information about the organization and focuses solely on the lawyers. These charts avoid depth by using organizational categories such as covert, visible, or ad hoc.
Focusing Exclusively On Outside Counsel
The biggest risk for this type of legal department organization chart is that it may not reflect all of a law department’s clients. So be clear about the outside counsel you retain for non-legal work.
This approach also results in more content that is included in the chart itself, making it both quite long and difficult to read.
Forgoing Organizational Changes
Another common problem involves not updating the content of the legal org chart, which can lead to confusion and frustration. This is particularly true when mergers and acquisitions occur. When organizations change, make sure all adjustments are noted and updated in the org chart.
Using Real-World Legal Org Charts to Your Advantage
One of the clearest examples of how an organization chart can make a big difference comes from how Chubb & Son, a major insurance company with over 170 years of experience in the field, uses them to keep track of the relationships among its lawyers and legal staff. The group has had five different flows for tracking the relationships of its attorneys and staff. First, a type of cascade chart was created that essentially added seniority levels to the reports. Then the firm moved to a pedigree chart that included their years of service and who they reported to. Years later these were replaced by flow sheets that tracked all the layers of reporting within the department, which was helpful for some users but disconcerting to others. Finally, they moved to their current organizational chart. The general counsel explained that they could see that the problem was scheduled time off, which was heavier during the summer but drained a lot of morale over the long haul. And the charts were a great way to figure out how to counteract this issue. It is essential that the legal department management team recognize the limitations of the different chart types. For example, if the firm has gathered the feedback from the users, is the design meeting their needs? Are people still using alternate versions? Are the numbers of errors decreasing or increasing? This will not only help them to determine whether the design meets the needs of the organization, but will also provide them with best practices that the users consider to be successful and can become the basis for their next steps.
Legal Org Charts- the Next Step
As we look to the future, we must ask ourselves how legal organization charts will evolve alongside the technologies and professional practices that are set to define the legal industry in the years to come. The future of the legal organization chart is likely to be shaped by the integration of innovative tools and seamless collaboration across various teams.
Cloud-based solutions that unify legal and non-legal professionals may become more common, allowing organizations to better understand the holistic view of their legal team, as well as their clients, thus simplifying the overall structure of the legal organization chart. Advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence continue to rise in prominence, driving efficiencies, streamlining processes, and potentially leading to new job titles and roles. Further, as organizations continue to evolve into a global workforce, the legal organization chart will be required to adapt to new regions and functional teams, such as compliance and privacy, that will work more collaboratively as legal departments move towards a holistic and cohesive view of the commercial enterprise.
The concept of a "fluid" or "dynamic" legal organization chart could be on the horizon. Indeed, agile legal professionals who move between teams, either on a temporary or permanent basis, could lead to a new era of legal organization charts where strict hierarchies give way to structure determined by role-based expertise. Legal professionals of the future may better focus on their core skills and interests , rather than be relegated to a specific department and function.
Technology and digital tools will also have significant impacts on the way legal teams are structured. For instance, with the rise of disengaged employees, the need for human resources to align with a legal team’s regulatory obligations and compliance requirements will only increase. At the same time, legal and IT departments may increasingly need to align themselves with one another. Legal professionals and non-legal professionals may find that they are working together more frequently on corporate data governance issues, such as electronic discovery and privacy and security needs.
Meanwhile, the traditional notion of functional specialization may lose ground as cross-departmental collaboration becomes the norm. Legal departments of the future may strive to create agile teams that can address emerging issues across functions, being both business-focused and solutions-driven. A traditional focus on specific industry knowledge may also become less relevant as the boundaries separating different industries become blurred.
At the end of the day, the evolution of the legal organization chart will depend on the ability of legal professionals to adopt these changes and the future of the legal department will hinge on their ability to make sense of their client’s changing needs. By anticipating emerging trends in the industry while being open to new ways of working, legal professionals will increase their ability to thrive in the demanding, fast-paced business world of the future.