Three strategic shifts reshaping legal departments from CLOC 2025

Earlier this month, the DraftWise team joined hundreds of legal operations professionals at the CLOC Global Institute 2025. As we connected with forward-thinking legal leaders, one thing became abundantly clear: we're witnessing a profound transformation in how legal departments operate, organize, and deliver value to their organizations.

The conversations at CLOC revealed something even more significant – a fundamental reimagining of legal's role within the modern enterprise.

Here are three transformative insights that shaped the discourse at this year's CLOC and what they mean for your legal department's future.

1. Legal's evolution from cost center to strategic business partner

The days of legal teams being viewed primarily as risk mitigators and cost centers are rapidly fading. Gartner's 2025 forecast, highlighted in multiple CLOC sessions, reinforces this transition. Their research identifies legal's evolution into a business facilitator rather than solely a cost center as one of the three most significant shifts awaiting General Counsel.

As businesses navigate increasingly complex regulatory environments and technological disruption, legal teams that can proactively partner with business units to enable innovation while managing risk create a measurable competitive advantage.

How DraftWise supports this evolution:

By automating routine contract review and negotiation aspects, DraftWise frees your legal team from repetitive tasks that consume valuable time and mental energy. Our Legal AI analyzes historical negotiation patterns, provides real-time guidance, and ensures consistency across your contract portfolio, allowing your lawyers to focus on higher-value strategic work that drives business outcomes. This efficiency gain is why our customers consistently report 30% faster contract review cycles without sacrificing quality or increasing risk.

2. Transformation is a long-term journey, not a quick fix

One of the most nuanced insights from this year's CLOC discussions centered around transformation timelines in legal operations. While comprehensive digital transformation extends beyond quick fixes, targeted AI implementations are already delivering substantial value in specific domains.

As Tyson Roy, Head of Legal Enablement and Operations at Liberty Mutual Insurance, noted, full-scale legal department transformation "is not measured in months – it's measured in years, and maybe decades." This perspective acknowledges the reality of enterprise-wide change management, but doesn't diminish the impact of focused solutions happening today.

Austin Hyde, Senior Director at Harbor, added valuable context: "When we talk about transformation, we're not talking about an end-state, we're talking about a process."

The maturing view among legal operations leaders distinguishes between the generalized "AI will solve everything" vision and the point solutions addressing specific pain points with efficiency. Contract analysis, document review, and knowledge management systems represent areas where well-defined problems meet purpose-built AI solutions, creating measurable impact within quarters rather than decades.

Leading teams are adopting a dual-track approach: deploying targeted AI implementations for immediate efficiency gains while simultaneously developing comprehensive transformation roadmaps with defined milestones. This balanced strategy delivers quick wins that build organizational momentum while establishing the foundation for more profound operational evolution.

How DraftWise enables sustainable transformation:

As your legal team’s negotiation patterns evolve and your knowledge base expands, DraftWise's AI continuously learns and adapts. Our implementation approach prioritizes sustainable change management, starting with targeted workflows where we can deliver immediate value while building toward comprehensive transformation of your contracting processes.

3. Legal operations as the strategic center of innovation

Perhaps the most exciting development visible at CLOC was the increasingly pivotal role of legal operations teams in driving strategic transformation.

Jenn McCarron's keynote captured this: "Creativity is the muscle legal ops has, but is still working out the flex. We're not just building systems. We're building something new."

Legal operations professionals are no longer merely implementing technologies selected by others – they're becoming innovation architects who reshape how legal work gets done. As AI integration becomes mainstream in contract review, risk assessment, and compliance processes, legal ops teams are uniquely positioned to map workflows, identify opportunity areas, and drive meaningful change.

How DraftWise empowers legal operations:

Our implementation specialists partner directly with legal ops leaders to identify where AI can deliver the most significant impact based on your workflow challenges. The result is a solution that not only delivers immediate efficiency gains but also supports legal ops' goal to transform how legal work is done.

Putting insights into action: Next steps for your Legal AI journey

The consensus at CLOC was clear: AI is reshaping how legal teams think and work. But implementing AI effectively requires a methodical approach:

1. Map your workflows with precision – Understand exactly where lawyer time is being spent before implementing solutions
2. Deploy AI where it makes the biggest impact – Focus on high-volume, pattern-based work first
3. Prepare your team culture for bigger shifts ahead – Build change management into your implementation plan

The future of legal is collaborative and AI-powered. As you continue your transformation journey, DraftWise is here to help your legal team navigate the evolving AI landscape and collaborate with you to identify high-impact areas where AI can benefit your business.

Ready to see how DraftWise can transform your contract workflows? Schedule a follow-up demo with your team to see our platform in your environment: Book a Demo

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