Legal services are essential for every organisation. They serve as both a shield, protecting against compliance issues, resolving disputes, defending intellectual property, and safeguarding assets and reputation; and a sword, establishing contracts, guiding strategic choices, and reinforcing governance and ethics.
Today, this landscape is evolving rapidly. For many years, the legal function worked as a back-office cost centre. It was reactive, resource-heavy, and mainly focused on resolving disputes and mitigating risks. Every contract review, discovery process, and compliance check took up valuable time from highly paid in-house lawyers.
In contrast, modern legal services focus on creating business value. Legal teams are moving beyond just saying “no” to actively designing compliant pathways that promote business success.
At the center of this change is the use of technology-driven, governance-focused delivery models. This new approach is transforming the legal function from a reactive support role into a strategic driver of efficiency, compliance, and business growth.
challenges driving the change
regulatory complexity: The global presence of modern enterprises brings a maze of diverse and complex regulatory frameworks. Legal professionals must juggle compliance mastery, case management, documentation, and client representation — where one misstep can unravel everything.
rising workload:Faster and more complex business operations have expanded the demand for legal input across functions. Traditional staffing models struggle to keep up with the speed and volume of organisational demands.
business imperative: Legal departments are now expected to act as strategic partners that enable growth while safeguarding compliance. They must find compliant pathways to say “yes” by structuring deals, developing scalable frameworks, and providing timely, actionable advice.
the operational shift
Traditionally, measuring legal productivity was a numbers game. It counted the number of NDAs reviewed, contracts processed, or hours billed — tying skilled professionals to repetitive tasks.
Today, success is defined by strategic contribution: how effectively legal controls cost and risk, prevents disputes, and accelerates revenue through smart risk-taking and simplified contracting.
This shift is powered by a human-in-the-loop approach. As technology automates routine reviews, compliance checks, and documentation, legal professionals can focus on higher-value priorities such as, shaping business strategy, managing complex negotiations, anticipating regulatory change, and enabling enterprise growth.
the technology toolkit
The transformation is powered by a combination of technologies that create a responsive, intelligent legal infrastructure.
AI and machine learning: Advanced AI goes far beyond document review.
- Predictive analytics assess litigation outcomes and recommend settlement strategies, reducing risk and spend.
- Machine Learning (ML) streamlines e-discovery by reviewing millions of documents with speed and precision.
- Natural Language Processing (NLP) extracts key terms, flags non-standard clauses, detects conflicts, and suggests alternatives based on negotiation patterns.
intelligent workflow automation:Automation enables self-managing processes such as, validating standard NDAs, escalating exceptions, tracking approvals, and generating real-time compliance reports for instant risk visibility.
real-time monitoring and alerts: Always-on compliance systems continuously scan communications, transactions, and activities for policy or regulatory breaches, instantly alerting legal to anomalies and enabling a shift from reactive response to proactive risk prevention.
contract lifecycle management (CLM) platforms: These platforms centralise contracts from request to renewal, automating obligations and deadlines while providing data-driven insights about vendors, terms, and risks ensuring a single source of truth for the enterprise.
knowledge management and precedent libraries:AI-powered knowledge libraries capture institutional expertise, turning past work product and proven negotiation strategies into reusable assets. This ensures consistency and speeds up decision-making across teams.
the target operating model: a new blueprint for legal delivery
The modern legal department operates under a Target Operating Model (TOM) — a framework integrating technology, people, and processes to deliver strategic value.
strategic work allocation
Work is intelligently distributed:
- Technology handles high-volume, low-complexity tasks automatically.
- Nearshore partners — specialised legal resources in geographically or culturally proximate locations — manage standardised work that requires human judgement but not senior-level expertise. This provides cost efficiency without the communication challenges of distant outsourcing.
- Junior in-house staff focus on learning and managing workflows.
- Senior in-house counsel concentrate exclusively on complex, high-stakes matters that require deep business context and strategic thinking.
Seamless integration unites internal teams, external counsel, and service providers into one ecosystem that is supported by shared platforms, standardised processes, and consistent quality metrics.
governance at the core
Rather than relying on ad-hoc compliance checks and reactive problem-solving, the modern TOM embeds governance into every process:
- Technology-enabled audit trails provide complete visibility into legal activities.
- Performance monitoring tracks quality, speed, and outcomes in real-time.
- Risk-management protocols, especially for AI-powered tools, ensure that automation enhances rather than compromises legal judgement.
External partners act as strategic collaborators, co-creating solutions and sharing accountability. This transforms relationships from transactional to strategic.
building adaptive capability
The TOM must remain dynamic and responsive. This requires investment in a scalable technology stack, comprising CLM platforms, e-billing systems, AI tools, and in people.
Future-ready legal teams need certain cross-functional capabilities:
- Data analytics for insight generation
- Process optimisation for efficiency
- Technology fluency for effective tool use
These competencies ensure the legal function evolves in step with the enterprise.
legal operations: the engine of transformation
At the heart of the TOM lies Legal Operations (Legal Ops) — the function that turns strategy into execution. Legal Ops drives technology adoption, tracks KPIs for efficiency and business value, facilitates collaboration across legal, IT, and business units, and leads continuous improvement. It ensures that the legal function is efficient, measurable, and future-ready.
looking ahead
The tech-enabled legal services market is expanding rapidly. From a USD 9.2 billion market in 2023, it is projected to reach USD 61.6 billion, growing at a CAGR of 27.7%. This transformation reflects a fundamental shift in priorities. Clearly the focus is moving beyond mere cost efficiency — saving money through outsourcing and automation — toward a far more strategic agenda.
The future of legal services lies in speed, agility, and enterprise enablement. Tech-enabled frameworks will accelerate business decisions, allow rapid adaptation to regulatory shifts, and position legal departments as proactive, enabling forces for the entire organisation. The legal function of tomorrow will not just manage risk, it will actively unlock business value.
how can Infosys BPM help?
Infosys BPM’s Legal Process Outsourcing services helps corporate legal departments and law firms transform, standardise, and automate legal tasks. We provide an optimal cost model that ensures significant savings while integrating advanced AI-driven tools to enhance quality, productivity, and responsiveness. Our expert services will unlock superior value across your legal operations.
