"the Overall Winner — the pinnacle of achievement in this year's competition. They achieved the highest ROI, demonstrated the most impactful and sophisticated use of innovative AI, displayed an excellent multi-year strategy example and great cross-organization collaboration,  all with a relatively small team. 

The project implemented digital workers or RPA bots to fully automate simple tasks, like extracting, classifying, and entering data to migrate 50,000 contracts to their Contract Lifecycle Management system.  They also implemented highly effective chatbots, evolving from menu-driven interactions to natural language queries powered by AI, fielding things like policy inquiries in standardized multilingual solution that spans their entire organization globally.

"A fresh approach to solving a key problem in legal procurement. This year’s winner exemplifies what it means to innovate by finding the right-sized solution, delivering impressive results with a smart use of resources.

This relatively small team impressed the judges with their enterprise-wide contract management system, a semi home-grown solution designed for managing independent contractor agreement requests. This system automates contract generation and intake, laying the groundwork for a standardized approach to contract management across the organization. What set them apart was their ability to achieve great results with a small investment in time and money. They achieved the second highest ROI of all entries and demonstrated how existing technology can be leveraged to its fullest potential. Their creative solution was implemented with a quick turnaround and has been successfully adapted for multiple use cases across the enterprise. Crucially, they paired their innovation with effective change management, including targeted training and communication, ensuring widespread adoption — something that we know can make or break an initiative.

Congratulations to the HEARST team for this outstanding achievement. Your innovation is a fantastic example of how creative thinking and strategic execution can drive meaningful change.”

-Award Ceremony, 2024 BLC Conference, September 10, 2024, NYC

"substantial savings, greater cost predictability, and enhanced quality — all while strengthening their relationship with their service providers.

The Wells Fargo OC Management Team, in partnership with PERSUIT,  embraced both the classic principles of value-based procurement and the innovative spirit needed to make those principles shine in a modern context. They achieved a 400% increase in the use of alternative fee arrangements and captured a 95% increase in discounts. This comprehensive OCM initiative included a Value-Added Services program mandating pro bono services and secondments, strategic rate reviews, and data-driven fee agreements. They utilized AI, Tableau dashboards, and a thorough review of outside counsel guidelines to drive deeper insights and tighter controls.

The judges loved their excellent use of AFAs and AI, their use of data in rate negotiations, the comprehensiveness of the program, and the fact that it targeted the very core of legal procurement. They’ve proven that while 'the classics are classics for a reason,' it certainly doesn’t hurt to sprinkle in a bit of innovation along the way!"

-Award Ceremony, 2024 BLC Conference, September 10, 2024, NYC

"...a partnership that impressed the judges with their creation of automated workflows for conflict of interest waivers, transforming a previously 100% manual process into a streamlined, automated solution. This innovation saves an estimated 1,650 hours per year, reduces risk, and enhances reporting capabilities, by reducing manual work by an incredible 96%; automating 20 manual controls.

The judges also loved their use of micro-learning sessions to drive adoption and engagement across teams and enhanced tracking and trending tools.

-Award Ceremony, 2024 BLC Conference, September 10, 2024, NYC

"...a really interesting, novel but effective approach to outside counsel partnering.  These partners have been able to integrate an external general counsel seamlessly so she functions effectively as part of the company’s legal team.  This includes elements like working with stakeholders directly without an in-house attorney as a go-between, leading team meetings, being fully integrated into the ticketing system, and investing in many ways in the institutional continuity of the legal department.  She handles things from massive deals to Coaching the junior commercial lawyers on supplier and vendor contracts, negotiation strategy, and effective stakeholder engagement

The judges loves how these partners managed to take the benefits of an external GC and weave them into the company in such a way that they are truly a steward of the legal department – and can see this approach to collaboration being [replicated] by other organizations in the future.  It’s striking a balance between sending work to OC and saving money by keeping it in-house.  It represents far more than a traditional outside counsel relationship–it’s a true collaboration."

-Award Ceremony, 2024 BLC Conference, September 10, 2024, NYC