On-demand webinar: how to secure stakeholder buy-in for legal initiatives

Securing approval for legal initiatives can be challenging.

Whether you’re introducing new technology, improving contract processes or launching a wider transformation project, success often depends on your ability to demonstrate business value – not just legal benefits.

In this webinar, Summize General Counsel Lexi Lutz is joined by CFO Rachel Cunliffe and Senior Director of Sales Harvey Trimble to discuss how legal teams can build stronger business cases, prove ROI and drive successful adoption across the business.

Watch the full on-demand session above to learn how to turn legal priorities into business priorities.

Why do legal initiatives struggle to gain traction?

Many legal teams face a common challenge: they know a process needs improving, but struggle to secure support from the people who will be impacted by the change. The webinar highlighted a key reason for this disconnect: different departments measure success differently.

For legal, a new process or CLM platform might improve compliance, visibility and risk management. But those benefits alone might not resonate with other stakeholders.

Sales teams care about:

• Deal velocity

• Faster contract turnaround times

• Predictable revenue

Finance teams care about:

• Forecast accuracy

• Cost control

• Risk visibility

• Scalability

Without connecting legal’s objectives to these wider business priorities, even valuable initiatives can be viewed as “just another legal project”.

How do you speak the language of your stakeholders?

One of the strongest themes throughout the discussion was the importance of communication. Legal teams often explain challenges using legal terminology, but stakeholders respond better when legal translates those challenges into business outcomes.

For sales, that might mean showing how improved contract processes help close deals faster. For finance, it means showing how better contract visibility can improve forecasting, reduce revenue leakage and support investment readiness.

As Harvey explained during the session, sales teams are primarily focused on speed and certainty. Showing how legal can remove friction from the contracting process is often far more effective than focusing on legal efficiencies alone.

The lesson is simple: getting buy-in is much easier if you frame your initiative around the problems your stakeholders are trying to solve.

What makes a business case difficult to ignore?

Many legal professionals struggle to prove ROI because legal value is often preventative rather than measurable – it’s difficult to calculate the cost of litigation that never happened or a compliance issue that was avoided.

The panel recommended focusing on three core areas: revenue impact, risk reduction and operational efficiency.

Practical examples of this include:

• Measuring contract review times

• Quantifying delayed revenue caused by bottlenecks

• Estimating costs associated with missed renewals

• Calculating time spent on repetitive administrative work

{{quote 1}}

How do you ensure adoption of the new initiative or solution?

Securing approval and buy-in is only the first step. The panel emphasized that adoption failures are still one of the biggest reasons legal tech projects underperform. In our experience, the most successful initiatives involve stakeholders early in the process, rather than presenting a completed solution after the decisions have already been made.

Some practical recommendations from Lexi, Harvey and Rachel included:

• Involve sales, finance, IT and procurement during evaluation

• Assign champions within each department

• Agree success metrics upfront

• Define clear ownership and responsibilities

• Regularly communicate progress and outcomes

Not sure who your key stakeholders are? Our guide on identifying CLM stakeholders and securing their buy-in walks through the roles to involve and how to win each one over.  

Next steps

Building a compelling business case that resonates with your stakeholders is often the biggest hurdle to getting legal initiatives approved.  

Our business case guide helps legal teams demonstrate ROI, align with business priorities and secure stakeholder support for projects such as CLM, legal tech adoption and process improvements. Download the full guide by clicking below.

‍