Memo from General Counsel to CFO on Legal Tech Investment

Dear Jane,

I am writing to recommend a strategic investment in our legal department’s technology. As our company grows and regulatory demands increase, our current manual processes are straining to keep up. By adopting modern legal tech—especially AI-driven tools—we can improve operational efficiency, ensure stronger compliance, and ultimately contribute to the company’s profitability and shareholder value.

Operational Efficiency and ROI: Automating routine legal work with AI will drive cost savings and productivity gains. Tasks like contract review that consume expensive attorney hours can be handled in-house by AI, allowing our team to cover more matters without adding headcount. We’ll also rely less on outside counsel, cutting those fees. Notably, 76% of general counsels expect generative AI to decrease legal department costs, reflecting the kind of ROI we can achieve. Doing more work internally at lower cost means this investment will quickly pay for itself and boost our bottom line.

Risk Mitigation and Compliance: Legal tech enables us to manage risk and compliance more proactively. AI can monitor our data lake (contracts, claims, communications) to spot issues early – identifying risky clauses, flagging compliance gaps, and ensuring we meet deadlines. Catching problems before they escalate helps avoid costly fines or litigation. Preventing even one major incident not only saves money but also protects our reputation and shareholder value.

Leveraging Data for Strategic Insight: Our company sits on a vast data lake of contracts and legal records. AI analytics can mine this information to inform business strategy. For instance, we could spot trends in contract negotiations to secure better terms or identify recurring issues to prevent future disputes. By turning these data assets into actionable intelligence, the legal department becomes a more strategic partner. We can cover a wider scope of work and provide data-driven advice that adds value beyond routine legal tasks.

In conclusion, investing in legal technology and AI is a sound business decision for our company. It will reduce costs, expand capacity, and strengthen compliance in alignment with our financial and strategic goals. I am confident these tools will quickly pay for themselves through efficiency gains and risk avoidance. I welcome the opportunity to discuss this proposal further at your convenience.

Sincerely,

Jon