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Innovation in Compliance: Playing the Long Game

May 12, 2020

By Tom Fox, Compliance Podcast Network | May 12, 2020 Leigh Vickery of Level Legal joins Tom Fox on this week’s show to discuss her company’s innovative managed services for the legal and compliance industry. She shares how they help clients get to the next level using a strategic combination of data and behavioral economics.
Helping People Solve Problems
Leigh shares her eclectic career background and how she came to the legal industry without any legal training. “I love helping people solve problems and… seeing the big picture and the patterns and processes across the business or industry,” she says. Level Legal shares her vision: they see themselves as problem solvers whom their clients can count on. “How that manifests itself now is in e-discovery, compliance investigations, solving legal problems, or helping our clients understand how those legal issues affect their business outcomes.”
Long-Term Relationship-Builders
Success depends on staying nimble, Leigh tells Tom. “We’re very much long-term relationship-builders as a company,” she points out. As things change, Level Legal is able to innovate to stay relevant. This is how they built the company from the first. Leigh comments that it took commitment, money, collaboration, and a willingness to fail fast and change direction. Her job is to drive those initiatives and keep the company looking around the corner.A Different Perspective
Tom is intrigued by Leigh’s statement that she brings a new perspective to problem-solving as well as innovation. He comments that a general counsel’s job is to protect the company from legal violations, whereas a compliance officer must remediate those violations. Ironically, however, most compliance officers were first general counsels. He says that his objective with this podcast is to bring innovative solutions to compliance officers to help them in their role. Leigh responds that every company should have someone who thinks differently to help the business innovate and improve.
A Different Approach
“Our services are completely designed to enable [our clients] to do what they need to do better, to help them predict where they’re going to have a problem…” Leigh says. She describes her company’s role as being there to help their clients look good. She explains that they’re able to fulfill their role through a strategic combination of data and behavioral economics. Their approach is collaborative, holistic and creative, she says; they are playing the long game. Tom asks her to define what it means to play the long game. She responds that it’s about thinking for the next generation. Because her company used this approach, they were able to survive and thrive through the present crisis. “The value of thinking long term is just table stakes now to be able to survive and thrive,” she comments. Leigh Vickery serves as the chief strategy and innovation officer for Level Legal. A graduate of Baylor University in English and psychology, Leigh sees problems as playgrounds. She finds delight in finding answers. Leigh’s insatiable curiosity and internal drive to figure things out – along with her ability to connect dots others never see – make her an invaluable resource across the whole company.

 

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