Function series · The 2027 Class · Nominations open
Legal Operations
The people who built the machine the department runs on.
The people who run the business of legal: operations, technology, data, vendors.
The 2027 Class
The class is forming.
The first names appear here as leaders accept and approve their own card. Put a name forward and it starts here.
Featured in this series
The long form.
Features and lists published in this series. Every piece is the leader's own, approved word by word.
In Conversation · Aug 2026
Best Idea Wins
Adam Frankel built NWN's first in-house legal department in 2019. Three acquisitions later he has stopped believing in the one thing every acquirer wants, and he is unusually direct about…
Read→
In Conversation · Jul 2026
Building the Modern Legal Function in Africa
Read→Why this series
The legal department is a business inside the business. Somebody runs it: the budget, the tools, the vendors, the data the GC quotes in the board meeting. This class names them.
Ran the department
Owned the budget, the panel and the systems, not a slice of them.
Measured something real
Cut spend, cycle time or risk in a way the CFO could see.
Named by peers
Nominated by the people who rely on the machine, then reviewed by our desk.
The path
Nominated to featured.
Four steps. Free at every one. Nobody buys a place, and the leader signs off on every word.
Nominated
By a peer, a partner or our desk. Free.
Recognized
A card in the class, from your own answers, approved by you.
In your own words
A longer record from your portal, when you want one.
Featured
A full feature, chosen editorially, never sold.
How the class is chosen
- NowNominations open. Names arrive from peers, partners and our desk.
- As names arriveEach nominee gets a private portal. They accept, answer in their own words and approve their card.
- 2027Features drop through the year, newest first, here.
- December 2027The class is revealed together, as one record.
Trusted partners
The firms this class names.
Leaders name the firms and vendors they trust from inside their portal. Listing is free and comes from the leader, never from a form.
The first names appear here as leaders accept.
Partners of the series
Firms that stand beside the class.
Partners pay to stand beside the class: their name on the series, their ad beside the stories they bring in, and their brand beside the cards of the leaders they bring. The recognition is earned either way. They never choose who is recognized and never touch a word. See the 2027 partner levels→
Bring someone with you.
Know a leader who belongs in this class? A nomination takes five minutes and costs nothing. They hear from us, not from a form, and they approve every word before anything publishes.
