Legal Services Request Form.

The Legal Service Request Form (LSRF) is a structured tool designed to efficiently capture complete and accurate instructions from the business when legal support is required.

The LSRF ensures that legal teams receive well-structured, actionable requests, preventing incomplete or unclear instructions that waste time and create inefficiencies.

Beyond being a shield against poor-quality legal instructions, the LSRF can also be leveraged as a powerful data analytics tool, providing valuable insights into legal team workload, service demand patterns, and process optimization opportunities.

A well-implemented LSRF ensures that legal teams can allocate resources efficiently, prioritize tasks, and improve response times.

The absence of a structured LSRF results in inefficiencies, resource misallocation, increased legal risk, and inconsistent service delivery.

The Legal Service Request Form (LSRF) should cover all key aspects of a legal instruction, including:

◼️ Requestor Information: Capturing details of the individual making the request.

◼️ Business Unit & Department: Identifying the relevant business function.

◼️ Nature of Legal Support Required: Categorizing the type of request (e.g., contract review, compliance advice, dispute resolution).

◼️ Background & Context: Ensuring all relevant information is provided upfront.

◼️ Key Deadlines & Priorities: Allowing legal teams to assess urgency and resource allocation.

◼️ Supporting Documents: Ensuring relevant materials are attached for review.

◼️ Stakeholder Involvement: Identifying who needs to be engaged in the legal process.

◼️ Risk & Business Impact Assessment: Providing legal teams with an understanding of potential risks.

◼️ Approval & Escalation Paths: Ensuring proper authorization for legal services.

◼️ Performance Tracking Metrics: Enabling monitoring of request handling times and efficiency.

In GLS legal ops, the Legal Service Request Form (LSRF) is considered a "Repeater" resource within legal operations.

A Repeater Resource: Supports multiple legal functions, ensuring that structured legal requests improve contracting, dispute resolution, compliance, and advisory services.

A well-structured LSRF enhances legal team productivity, reduces wasted time, and improves service delivery across the organization.

The best practice features of an LSRF include:

◼️ Standardized Input Fields: Ensuring that legal teams receive complete and relevant information.

◼️ Automated Submission & Tracking: Enabling requestors to track the status of their legal requests.

◼️ Clear Categorization of Legal Issues: Ensuring efficient routing to the correct legal team member.

◼️ User-Friendly Interface: Making the form accessible and easy to use for business units.

◼️ Integrated Approval Workflows: Ensuring appropriate business approvals before submission.

◼️ Data Analytics & Reporting: Providing insights into legal team workload and efficiency.

◼️ Integration with Legal Tech Tools: Connecting with CLM, case management, and workflow automation platforms.

◼️ Prioritization Mechanisms: Allowing legal teams to assess urgency and allocate resources effectively.

◼️ Audit & Compliance Readiness: Maintaining records for tracking legal engagement and risk assessment.

◼️ Customizability for Business Needs: Allowing flexibility to tailor forms to different legal service areas.

The Legal Service Request Form (LSRF) delivers significant value to the business:

◼️ Increased Legal Team Efficiency: Reduces time spent on clarifying incomplete requests.

◼️ Optimized Resource Allocation: Ensures that legal work is assigned to the appropriate team members.

◼️ Improved Legal Service Delivery: Enables faster response times and structured engagement.

◼️ Reduced Legal Risks: Ensures key legal issues are properly addressed from the outset.

◼️ Data-Driven Decision Making: Allows tracking of legal service demand and performance.

◼️ Enhanced Stakeholder Collaboration: Strengthens communication between legal and business teams.

◼️ Reduced Back-and-Forth Communication: Minimizes delays caused by incomplete or vague instructions.

◼️ Better Compliance & Record Keeping: Maintains structured records of legal requests for auditing purposes.

◼️ Scalability & Growth Enablement: Supports expanding legal service needs efficiently.

◼️ Clearer Business Expectations: Ensures requestors understand what is required for legal support.

The LSRF provides the following benefits for the legal department:

◼️ Streamlined Legal Workflows: Reduces inefficiencies caused by unclear instructions.

◼️ Improved Response Time: Allows faster handling of legal requests.

◼️ Better Workload Management: Helps legal teams track and distribute workload effectively.

◼️ More Accurate Resource Forecasting: Enables planning for legal support needs based on demand trends.

◼️ Enhanced Risk Management: Ensures that all legal requests align with company policies and regulatory standards.

◼️ Stronger Internal Client Relationships: Improves the legal department’s engagement with business teams.

◼️ Reduced Operational Disruptions: Ensures legal teams are working on the most critical matters first.

◼️ Better Integration with Legal Technology: Supports digital transformation in legal service delivery.

◼️ Compliance & Audit Readiness: Ensures structured documentation of legal engagements.

◼️ Standardization of Legal Support: Provides consistency in how legal services are requested and managed.

A Legal Service Request Form (LSRF) is essential for:

◼️ Legal Teams: To ensure structured and efficient processing of business requests.

◼️ Contract Managers: To facilitate timely contract reviews and approvals.

◼️ Procurement & Sourcing Teams: To obtain legal input on vendor agreements.

◼️ Sales & Commercial Teams: To ensure proper legal support for customer contracts.

◼️ Finance & Risk Officers: To address financial and regulatory compliance matters.

◼️ Compliance Officers: To manage regulatory-related legal inquiries.

◼️ Operations Teams: To ensure legal oversight on operational matters.

◼️ Legal Operations Teams: To optimize legal service delivery.

◼️ Senior Executives: To ensure legal resources align with business strategy.

◼️ External Legal Counsel: To integrate outside legal support within a structured request framework.

A business that does not implement an LSRF will face:

◼️ Inconsistent Legal Instructions: Poorly structured requests lead to inefficiencies.

◼️ Delays in Legal Support: Increased response times due to unclear or incomplete information.

◼️ Higher Legal Costs: Increased reliance on external counsel to compensate for inefficiencies.

◼️ Greater Risk Exposure: Unstructured legal engagement increases legal and compliance risks.

◼️ Ineffective Resource Allocation: Legal teams waste time on avoidable clarification work.

◼️ Reduced Business-Legal Collaboration: Misalignment between legal teams and business units.

◼️ Limited Visibility into Legal Workload: Lack of structured data hinders forecasting and planning.

◼️ More Internal Friction: Increased frustration due to inefficient legal service delivery.

◼️ Compliance & Audit Challenges: Inconsistent records of legal support requests.

◼️ Lack of Strategic Legal Insights: No ability to analyse trends and optimize legal processes.

Implementing a Legal Service Request Form (LSRF) requires consideration of:

Integration with Case Management & Workflow Tools: Ensuring seamless legal service delivery.

Automated Request Routing: Assigning legal matters to the right team members.

Data Analytics for Demand Insights: Providing visibility into legal service usage.

Audit Trail & Compliance Logging: Maintaining records for regulatory reporting.

AI-Powered Request Categorization: Using AI to streamline request handling.

User-Friendly Submission Interface: Ensuring ease of use for business teams.

Customization Capabilities: Allowing adaptation to different legal service areas.

Security & Access Controls: Protecting sensitive legal request information.

Scalability for Enterprise Use: Supporting legal teams of various sizes and industries.

Mobile Accessibility: Enabling request submissions from any location.

The GLS Knowledge Centre has a wealth of resources available for learning more about the importance of the Group Legal Policy and how you can effectively implement one - check out a few on the right.

The GLS Legal Operations Centre contains everything you need to effectively implement your own tailored Group Legal Policy in a cost-effective and timely manner. Check out the resources linked on the right. 

Also, feel free to contact GLS to book a consult to discuss your Group Legal Policy needs right here.