Managing contracts across their entire lifecycle requires mastery of a complex set of interrelated activities spanning the whole enterprise. The connection between people, processes, policies and technology in the context of contracting is one of the most intricate legal operations functions. Contract Lifecycle Management or “CLM” impacts compliance efforts and risk mitigation strategies, requiring close attention from the legal department.
ACC offers this Legal Operations Maturity Model as a reference tool. Use it to benchmark maturity in any given area(s), bearing in mind that priorities and aspirational targets will vary based on department size, staffing and budgets. We have partnered with leading legal service providers to produce the Foundational Toolkit to advance in each of the 14 functions. Members can link to the tools and on-demand webcasts below.
Association of Corporate Counsel
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By in-house counsel, for in-house counsel ®
Maturity Model Stages
EARLY
- No contract management tool
- Contracts saved in multiple locations (e.g. shared drives, hard drives, etc.) rather than in a central repository
- Ad hoc legal review
- Signature policy nonexistent or weak enforcement/compliance
- Incomplete execution
- Inconsistent terms; multiple versions
- No automated date, term, or timeline follow-up.
INTERMEDIATE
- Contract lifecycle management tool (some automated contract creation, standard contract workflows, approval processes, e-signatures)
- Central contract repository
- Clearly defined corporate ownership of contracts
- Authoring supported by family templates, clause libraries, redlining, and version control
- Reporting and audit/history capabilities, operational metrics, obligation tracking, expiration alerts
- Standardized processes and templates; focus of lawyer review is on exceptions only
- Signature authorization policy; strong compliance
- Some automated date, term, and timeline follow-up.
ADVANCED
- Contract lifecycle management tool utilized enterprise-wide, leveraging systems integrations (e.g. with procurement and sales systems) and collaboration with supplier portals; completely or nearly paperless
- Single repository contains all contracts (buy and sell side); robust searchability supports compliance
- Operational and quality control reporting and metrics are robust, including business intelligence driving continuous improvement in contract terms
- Standardization, risk calibration, and playbooks allow extensive contract creation/execution with no legal department involvement
- Signature policy governed through automation; 100 percent compliance
- Focus on operational improvement, reducing cycle times and disputes; effort invested only in highest risk/complexity contracts
- Full automation of reminders and workflow of contract term dates, renewals, and milestones.
Where Are You in Your Contracting Maturity?
Foundational Toolkit
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Legal Review Policy
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Templates
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Playbooks
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People
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Process
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Technology
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Metrics & Data
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Outsourcing
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