CASE STUDY: How GNT Group built an efficient legal department with Legisway

Along with company growth comes the growth of obligations, and of course risk. That’s why a company starting out as a small local operation and growing into a large multinational soon finds themselves lacking the legal support they need. And then comes the question of how to set up the first legal department and exactly what is required.

A perfect example of a company that faced this dilemma is GNT Group. Starting out as a small family-run operation in 1978, they have gone to become a global market leader supplying food ingredients for colouring purposes to food and beverage companies worldwide.

While enjoying steady growth over the years, it was not until recently that they hired a full-time Legal Counsel. Here’s how newly appointed Legal Counsel, Koen van Holten, accomplished his mission of building a legal department from scratch and reducing the business’ risk with the help of enterprise legal software, Legisway.

Establishing a legal department, from scratch

When Koen first started there was no structured system in place for contracts, compliance, data privacy and corporate housekeeping. He remembers how difficult it was to find documents, let alone provide strategic counsel. It soon became his personal responsibility to establish the company’s first legal department to match the growth they were experiencing and be ready for the next phase.

Using Legisway he got this underway in no time and was able to register legal information for all 20 entities into the system straight away. Now with all his legal information safely stored in one place, Koen can easily locate the corporate data he needs and generate reports with a click of a button. He has been able to give colleagues access to what they need while keeping confidential data safe.

Thanks to the vast capabilities of Legisway, Koen says he is seen by the company as a legal department, even though it is just him. And being scalable, the system will grow with his, and the company’s, needs.

Everyone in the company is more legally savvy

Koen explains that when he first came on board many contracts were done informally and since then he has spent a lot of time educating employees about risk. “Legisway has helped us formalise contracts, create NDAs and keep track of our obligations, effectively reducing our risk,” he says.

This ability to reduce his own admin burden, empower other employees and collaborate on tasks using Legisway has allowed Koen to focus on the strategic aspects of his role. “Legisway supports me in delivering a broad range of services while assuming a proactive, strategic role in our management team,” he explains.

Learn how Legisway can help you organise your legal information, standardise processes, collaborate with the business and deliver fast results. And, if the issues Koen once faced as Legal Counsel sound all too familiar to you, why not schedule a free demo to see how Legisway can work for your business?