William (“Bill”) Henderson is literally front and center on the cover of the October issue of the American Bar Association’s ABA Journal magazine. Henderson, Professor at the Maurer School of Law and the Val Nolan Faculty Fellow at Indiana University (and co-founder and principal of Lawyer Metrics,) has had a high profile in our “renovation” crowd for quite some time.

In Henderson’s cover story, “What the Jobs Are,” he addresses how “new tech and new client needs create a new field of legal operations.”

“General counsel are increasingly giving senior ‘legl ops’ professionals the authority to improve legal department performance, including the hiring and managing of outside counsel,” he writes. “When this happens, outside law firms have to justify how they are providing greater value than the dozens of law firms and new law service provides that are dying to get in the door.”

Henderson says he’s come to the conclusion that legal ops “is not just a job within a legal department.” Rather, it’s a “multidisciplinary field where professionals collaborate to design and build systems to manage legal problems.”

In his eight-page article, he profiles John Alber‘s work at Bryan Cave, and how Alber’s teams revamped the firm’s  operations. Alber ran the client technology group; the practice economics group; and the accelerated review team while he was the firm’s “strategic technology partner.” (Alber recently retired for the firm, and now calls himself a “practical futurist.” He is the International Legal Technology Association‘s volunteer futurist.)

Henderson also focuses on kCura (which offers e-discovery tools) and NetApp (data management, storage, electronic signatures). In June, Chicago based-kCura had 30 open full-time, professional positions, and its executives expect it to grow to more than 700 within three years, reported Henderson. “Why is kCura growing so rapidly when its client base —traditional legal service providers—appear to be stuck in a pattern of flat or declining revenues and headcount?” His conclusion:  “One of the hallmarks of a good legal tool is its ability to replace traditionally trained lawyers.”

Henderson’s story comes to a dramatic epiphany: “Many legal departments, including dozens located in Northern California, are now as large or larger than Am Law 200 Firms. Crossing this threshold means law firms don’t necessarily have better economies of scale and scope than their biggest and most coverted clients. The flip side is also true—many of the hassles of modern law practice are now being replicated inside large legal departments. ”

Henderson cites D. Casey Flaherty‘s work while at Kia Motors America as a corporate counsel, and the “tech audit” test that was used to assess associates’ very basic tech skills. “Flaherty believes the epicenter of modern law practices management is destined to move out of large law firms and into corporate law departments.” Concludes Henderson: “Reluctantly, I have to conclude that Flaherty is right.”

It’s a fascinating report and totally relevant to our CodeX community!  Read it here.