First-year priority

Legal leads the transformation.

Legal combines high-volume, repeatable work with the most demanding governance requirements. Getting it right here establishes the controls and credibility to scale across the CAO.

Year 1 priority

Volume and repeatability

Contract requests (NDAs, vendor agreements, amendments) follow recognizable patterns.

Measurable baseline

Cycle time, rework and request backlog can be measured before any change.

Highest governance bar

Solving privilege, confidentiality and accountability here creates controls the rest of the CAO can reuse.

Visible capacity release

Attorney time moved from triage to advisory work is a clear, explainable benefit.

Two pilot initiatives

Fictional initiatives; targets are proposed, not achieved

Pilot A · Weeks 1–12

Contract Intake & Triage

Structured intake form, rules-based routing by contract type and value, AI-assisted classification confirmed by a paralegal.

Approach: Workflow automation + Copilot (existing tools)

Success criteria

Intake-to-assignment time≥ 50% reduction vs. measured baseline
Requests returned for missing information≥ 40% reduction
Classification accuracy (human-confirmed)≥ 90% on pilot sample
Attorney satisfaction≥ 4.0 / 5 in pilot survey

Pilot B · Weeks 5–16

Low-Risk Agreement Self-Service

Approved NDA and standard template self-service for the business, with clause deviation flags routed to an attorney.

Approach: Process redesign + workflow automation

Success criteria

Standard NDAs completed without attorney touch≥ 60% of eligible requests
Deviation flags reviewed by attorney100% (control requirement)
Business requester cycle timeSame-day for eligible templates
Post-execution exceptions found in auditZero material exceptions

Legal automation roadmap — Year 1

Discover & baseline

· Map contract intake workflow
· Measure cycle-time baseline
· Privilege & data access review

Pilot

· Launch Pilot A
· Launch Pilot B
· Weekly control and accuracy checks

Validate & scale

· Validate pilot results
· Extend to all contract types
· Clause playbook assistant (evaluate)

Embed & extend

· Transition to BAU ownership
· Report realized benefits
· Replicate pattern in Strategic Sourcing

See the contract intake process map