EXTERNAL SERVICE PROVIDERS: Legal expertise for data protection and compliance

Author: Stephanie Simon-Sommer, Attorney at law

The world we live in is becoming increasingly confusing. Companies have to navigate their way through a sprawling jungle of laws and regulations. Their legal departments are supposed to clear the way, unloading all legal matters onto them. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to take care of all tasks properly. One reason for this is that the shortage of specialists has long since reached the legal departments and there is often a lack of staff to handle new assignments. This is another reason why the workload in many legal departments has reached a level that turns “stress” into “overload”. On the other hand, in-house lawyers are often assigned routine tasks that fill their working day to bursting point, but at the same time keep them away from really important – i.e. strategically relevant – processes and projects. And, what’s more, these tasks are a drain on motivation and thus fuel thoughts of leaving the company. So what can be done?

Let’s ask the question in a different, more solution-oriented way: Why do everything ourselves? Why not delegate certain tasks to external service providers? Legal outsourcing is generally an attractive option for companies that want to use their legal department as efficiently as possible. These service providers

  • take on routine tasks such as checking NDAs or contracts.
  • are brought in from time to time to cushion peaks in the workload.
  • step in as interim staff (e.g. to cover parental leave).

In our increasingly confusing world, legal outsourcing can take on other important tasks. Keyword: data protection. Keyword: compliance. The requirements in both areas are becoming increasingly complex. But is it worthwhile, especially for medium-sized companies, to build up the relevant expertise in-house? Especially in times of skills shortages? Or is it more efficient and cost-effective to “buy in” this expertise externally?

External service providers for data protection

Clarius.legal is one such external service provider. Our services include data protection audits that enable companies to quickly and comprehensively identify weaknesses in business processes. If you want to go one step further, we offer a modular data protection management system that enables companies to automate and prioritize complex processes. This makes uncertainties in responsibility and communication a thing of the past.

Alternatively – or in addition – companies can appoint an external data protection officer to take care of all legal challenges relating to data protection. This service is of course also available from Clarius.Legal. Those who opt for an external solution do not have to train their own employees and can use them for their actual tasks. External data protection officers are also helpful for the external image: they show how much value the company places on up-to-date data protection. This creates trust, including with the supervisory authorities.

External service providers for compliance

While the importance of data protection has been recognized by companies since the introduction of the GDPR, the value of compliance is still often underestimated. This is changing, not least due to the requirements of the CSRD. The European Union’s Corporate Social Responsibility Directive forces around 15,000 of the largest German companies to prepare their sustainability reports in accordance with defined requirements. The aim is to achieve international comparability, as with financial reports. The CSRD’s understanding of sustainability is not limited to CO2 reduction and recycling, but takes social factors just as seriously as governance, i.e. corporate management. Convincing compliance is at the heart of good corporate governance. In other words, compliance is moving even further from being a “nice to have” to a “must have”.

Here, too, the question arises: does this expertise need to be built up in-house or is an external service provider more sensible? Clarius.Legal advises on everything from individual compliance measures to the development of a complete compliance management system. On request, Clarius.Legal can provide an external compliance officer who is responsible for acting in accordance with the law and averting damage in the face of increasing regulation. In this way, companies benefit from the lawyer’s duty of confidentiality and effectively prevent conflicts of interest.

The motto: “Outsource the work that keeps you from working.” So that employees in the legal department can concentrate on the really meaningful tasks.

Interested?

We would be happy to show you personally how we support legal departments – for example through legal outsourcing or through external data protection and compliance officers.

Your personal contact

Matthias SchulzSenior Sales Manager

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