Introduction: 0:00
- Introducing Jenn McCarron, Director of Legal Operations & Technology at Netflix and president of the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC).
- Hosting the Cloc Talk podcast.
- Growing as Head of Legal Tech at Spotify and Senior Technology Program Manager at Cisco.
Advancing the legal ops industry at CLOC as President of the Board of Directors: 3:35
- Re-ratifying the organization’s strategy, vision and mission to grow the legal ops profession.
- Emphasizing the value of community, content, and conversation.
- Introducing a career framework for CLOC’s more than 7,000 members.
Getting started with CLOC: 7:22
- Gathering the confidence to share your work to your bosses and peers.
- Presenting at CLOC’s first NYC meetup in front of 50 other legal ops professionals from across the East Coast.
- Leaving such a good impression that you are recruited for years to come.
- Demonstrating the importance of community.
Unpacking the mindset of service and giving back: 11:21
- Growing up in a service-oriented military and police household.
- Considering a career in social work.
- Turning CLOC into a big tent community that encourages putting yourself out there.
Lessons learned as CLOC president: 14:23
- Recognizing how long it takes for change to manifest within any system.
- Book recommendation: Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars: The Story of the First American Woman to Command a Space Mission by Col. Eileen M. Collins, USAF.
- Learning a complex system through failure and turbulence.
- Understanding that tech is less simple than just hierarchy and doing what your bosses ask.
Advice for professionals getting their start in legal ops: 17:24
- Worry less and understand that it’s all going to work out.
- Sitting still for a while and allowing change to take shape.
- Staying at a job unless it isn’t a good fit.
- Incorporating mechanisms for reflection (like retros) into your professional life.
- Improving your messages by always rewriting them.
Hiring detail-oriented staff with stakeholder management skills: 22:07
- Knowing which core competencies you are capable of teaching.
- Understanding that communication skills can be improved but hires will still need to be able to execute a project.
- Biasing towards project management skills.
Recommending platforms for learning project management skills: 26:04
- Learning on the job from real business examples is always the best teacher.
- Continuing mentorships through every stage of your career.
- De-emphasizing certifications as the ultimate door opener.
- Leaning on your community to teach you skills you don’t have yet.
Dealing with the loneliness of a one-of-one role: 30:25
- Finding gaps in common language with members of other teams.
- Using CLOC as a resource for discussion, solutions, and getting grounded.
- Fighting back negative thinking and imposter syndrome by iterating on shared problems with your legal ops peers.
Legal ops as a business team vs legal ops as a legal team: 37:06
- Considering whether slow adoption by legal will result in business taking over.
- Stressing the importance of legal ops’ domain experience and ability to connect legal to tech.
- Need legal experts in order to work with legal teams.
Focusing on the future: 41:02
- Building a strong succession plan at Netflix.
- Always taking calls from recruiters to understand how the job market is changing.
- Discussing job structure and compensation changes in recruitment calls with your manager.
- The importance of optionality in future career paths.
- Holding roles where your manager lets you leave to tour in a play for six weeks.
Maintaining an after-hours music career: 46:47
- Seeing pop songwriting as an exercise in simplifying.
- Releasing a new song every month under the name “ønes.”
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