Blueprint for the Ultimate Legal Ops Team with Steph Corey, CEO UpLevel Ops & Co-Founder CLOC
In this episode
Summary
Introduction: 0:00
- Steph Corey, CEO and co-founder of UpLevel Ops and LINK, joins the podcast.
- Co-founded CLOC and served as Chief of Staff at Flex and VMware.
- Started her legal ops career at Hewlett Packard.
Switching to legal ops from finance: 2:50
- On realizing that finance and accounting weren’t the right path for her.
- Applying to an early legal ops job at Hewlett Packard in the 90s.
- Making lives easier for HP’s legal time and being invisible.
- Implementing fundamental technologies.
- Forging a career path that mirrors the evolution of legal ops.
- Transitioning from administrative work to a strategic role.
Building trust with HP’s general counsel: 5:33
- On receiving great mentorship.
- HP paying for executive coaching.
- Seeing networking as critical.
- Trying to figure out what’s next.
Co-founding CLOC, the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium: 11:21
- Steph on finding other legal operations professionals.
- Coordinating monthly phone calls that became half-day workshops.
- Formalizing CLOC into a conference.
- Not knowing how big it would get.
- Learning from each other.
- Finding a seat at the table.
Do you need a JD to break into legal operations?: 15:47
- Steph on hiring people with different backgrounds.
- Business training vs legal training.
- Missing out on great candidates.
Tips for finding the right talent: 18:55
- Steph on the importance of diversity.
- Stepping out of your comfort zone.
- Sourcing recommendations from other departments in your organization.
How can legal operations professionals and general counsels work better together?: 23:03
- Steph on hiring people who complement your skill set.
- Intentionally creating a strong work culture.
- Focusing on people with leadership qualities.
Co-founding LINK, the Legal Innovators Network: 28:44
- On moving onto the seller side and leaving CLOC.
- Creating a smaller conference environment.
- Introducing more executives.
- Keeping conversations at a manageable size.
Merging Link with The L Suite: 31:54
- Steph on connecting with The L Suite
- Helping them build out an operations community.
- Bringing general counsels and other lawyers into the conversation.
- Focusing on practicalities.
The future of her consultancy: 38:23
- Steph on moving towards her career interests.
- Finding the right resources.
Connecting with Steph and LINK: 40:27
- Go to LINKforlegal.com to join.
- Reaching out to Steph directly at Steph@uplevelops.com.
Rapid-fire questions: 41:11
- Steph’s favorite part of the day-to-day.
- Professional pet peeves.
Book Recommendations: 45:46
- Burn Book: A Tech Love Story by Kara Swisher
- The Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman and Michael Bhaskar
What you wish you’d known as a young legal ops professional: 49:30
- Steph on knowing that you have influence.
- Advocating for yourself.