Corporate law departments are faced with an array of new regulatory legislation, such as Sarbanes-Oxley, which makes it even more critical that middle and upper management comply with these new requirements.  Escalating legal fees for outside counsel require that corporate legal departments also devise systems for delivering legal services to middle managers cost effectively, without compromising control or increasing exposure to legal liability.

The Web-Enabled Corporate Legal Department

A corporate legal department Extranet can be a critical tool for delivering legal services to management.  By Extranet we mean a network where the corporate legal department is the hub and middle managers, wherever they are located, consume legal services through an individualized and customized legal affairs page for each manager.

Epoq US., has developed a technology platform that supports the concept of a "web-enabled" corporate legal department.  The digital applications that we have developed are modular so they can be integrated with an existing corporate legal department web site. These components include:

• the dynamic delivery of relevant legal information that informs managers about their legal obligations through a web interface;
• the delivery of legal compliance training through the same web interface;
• web-enabled document assembly of routine legal documents that are integrated with a General Counsel-managed approval and review work process;
• individual secure and private web pages for each manager, where the manager can archive documents created for them in digital form, check on the progress of their cases and legal matters, communicate securely with both inside counsel and outside counsel, and generally manage their legal affairs in a single Internet space;
• a collaborative environment for online dispute settlement and conflict resolution; multi-jurisdictional and cross-company litigation; and multi-party transactional "deals."  See: Allen & Overy, http://www.newchange.com