Early Adopter | Entrepreneur | Wellness Advocate | Tech Nerd | Co-Founder and CEO @ Camber Legal

I've always been captivated by the journey people take to discover their life's true calling. While we often hear about the famous founders and trailblazers, there are countless others who toil away each day, quietly pursuing their dreams. They build, they grow, they stumble and pick themselves up, all without the spotlight of fame, finding immense joy in the simple act of getting things done.

I found my life's purpose at the age of 40. Now, I'm determined to spend the next forty+ years on a journey of building, growing, failing, and learning, surrounded by a diverse group of rebels who share my passion. Together, we aim to push boundaries and contribute to making the world a better and more fascinating place.

Salvador Carranza

IncuBaker

I shut down my solo legal operations consulting business when I got the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join the IncuBaker team. With IncuBaker, I get to continue my mission of relieving in-house legal professionals' pain points through process improvements, technology selection and implementation, contract management, data analytics, legal operations consulting, and improvement management.

Legal Process Engineer Manager

Key Legal Operations Consulting LLC

I founded Key Legal Operations Consulting LLC (KLOC) to help legal departments and law firms operate more efficiently and help lawyers focus on providing best-in-class advice to their clients.  I started KLOC while I was embedded as a consultant within the legal department of a Fortune 100 Company.  The experience of being part of that legal department convinced me to focus on legal operations and move away from my prior mediation business. 

Through KLOC, I help businesses and law firms develop and implement innovative ways to reduce risks, reduce legal expenses, maximize efficiency, and improve profitability through process improvements, automation, and adoption of legal tech.  Since starting KLOC, I have helped   

•	Create, supervise, and train a new Center of Excellence eight-person team responsible for handling budgeting, invoice review, vendor onboarding, and issue ticketing while embedded within legal department of a Fortune 100 company. 
•	Revamp monthly accruals process for Fortune 100 client and reduced errors by over 10%.
•	Optimize workflow for Center of Excellence team of a Fortune 100 legal department and increased budget creations from 73% to 99%.
•	Create new procedures to reduce invoice review time by 20% and assured a $400,000 rebate. 
•	Identify new and innovative endpoint cybersecurity solutions for small law firms and mediation businesses.

If you want to know more about my business, the website for KLOC is: https://keylegalops.com

I can be reached at (816) 529-0043 or by email at jeff@keylegalops.com

Founder & Director of Legal Operations 

Kruse Consulting and Dispute Resolution LLC (KCADR)

I started KCADR to provide legal operations consulting services to legal departments and law firms and to help people amicably resolve conflicts.  Through KCADR, I helped legal departments and law firms acquire and implement new technologies and improve processes to operate more efficiently.  While operating KCADR, I helped the team at a Fortune 100 legal department:

•	Redesign the legal operations support function for that Fortune 100 company.
•	Automate workflow to eliminate manual uploading and transfer of invoices from Legal to Treasury.
•	Map existing invoice and vendor payment processes to identify areas for improvement.
•	Hire new personnel for invoice review and managing issue tickets.

Before I was embedded within the legal department of that Fortune 100 company for 17 months, I:

•	Assisted legal departments with: litigation preparation processes, litigation hold procedures, e-discovery processes, technology selection, and implementation projects.
•	Helped small law firms by improving intake processes, automating procedures and tasks, switching to cloud-based solutions, and providing training for associates.

At KCADR, I also helped people and businesses find creative solutions to their conflicts by serving as a neutral mediator. Even before the pandemic, I began using online dispute resolution tools to settle disputes.  Through my mediation practice, I helped people settle personal injury, product liability, breach of contract, business dissolution, and vendor disputes.

Workplace Conflict Prevention and Management

In addition to workplace mediation services, I helped companies work to prevent disputes from disrupting business by engaging in workplace communication training, conflict coaching, conflict management workshops, and conflict resolution training for people managers.  Because every company is different, I tailored my training to each client's specific needs.

President & Legal Operations Consultant

Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice

I returned to private practice to leverage ten years of in-house corporate counsel experience to enhance litigation management and to provide expert legal advice concerning contract negotiations, business litigation, product liability lawsuits, regulatory compliance, dispute resolution, and continuous process improvements. I collaborated with clients to respond to regulatory authorities and to prepare them for civil litigation by implementing best practices for ediscovery.

Representative accomplishments included:

•  Developing litigation preparedness plans for corporate clients.

• Updating and automating litigation hold procedures and notices for corporate clients.

• Providing client development training including training regarding client-friendly billing practices.

Member

Boston Scientific

After a reorganization of the Legal Department, I assumed more global responsibilities and provided legal, business, and risk mitigation advice to multiple global corporate functions including the Information Technology,  Finance, Treasury, Tax, Research & Development, Sales, Marketing, Regulatory, Quality and Warranty departments. 

Representative accomplishments included:

• Served as cross-functional champion for the first company-wide document retention policy program. Prior to this initiative, business divisions and corporate functions had their own retention schedules and policies.
 
• Trained outside counsel law firms on Lean Business Process principles and documented savings of 7% in the first year of the program.

• Led and promoted a Lean Business Process that revamped the intake and administrative management of new matters and reduced internal labor costs by 12%.

Senior Legal Operations Director 

I was promoted to a Chief Litigation Officer role while overseeing the engagement and eventual hiring of the cross-functional litigation support and e-Discovery team that grew to 13 full-time employees.   I proactively demonstrated strong and effective leadership as Chief Litigation Officer where team building skills enhanced effectiveness in a role managing all product liability matters (over 50,000 matters) for the entire company while simultaneously handling complex civil litigation including class actions, securities litigation, insurance coverage matters, breach of contracts cases, commercial litigation, and government investigations.  I supervised over two dozen Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for multiple services and critical software solutions and negotiated the contracts in a price-friendly and timely manner.  I also led the cross-functional team which drafted, implemented and trained the entire company on a new Global Electronics Communication Policy.

Chief Litigation Officer 

Initially hired to manage and resolve the largest legal, regulatory and public relations crisis facing Guidant Corporation (prior to its acquisition by Boston Scientific Corporation (BSC)). I consistently provided legal advice and corporate business guidance to the Cardiac Rhythm Management Division. I offered actionable and timely legal and business advice to senior leadership for the Sales, Marketing, Quality, Regulatory, Warranty, Clinical Affairs, and R&D functions. 

In addition to the litigation work, I led the compliance programs and training associated with two Corporate Integrity Agreements and a Multi-State Stipulated Judgment and provided legal and compliance advice to guide company through a Corporate Warning Letter from the FDA including revamping hundreds of Department Operating Procedures, Standard Operating Procedures, Work Instructions and other processes resulting in significant reduction in field actions.

Additionally, I led numerous continuous process improvement projects and implemented several technology solutions to increase team efficiency and decrease legal spend.

Senior Corporate  Counsel, Cardiac Rhythm Management Division

Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.

• Served as the national, regional and local litigation counsel representing global manufacturers of various products. 

• Rose to a leadership position through the Associates Committee within the firm after demonstrating exceptional subject matter expertise and mentoring ability. 

• Managed 11 direct and indirect reports consisting of junior attorneys and legal professional support staff. 

• Created methods and strategies to optimize the pre-trial process for covering depositions, witness preparation, and dispositive-motion briefing for pharmaceutical and medical device clients. 

• Supervised internal and external counsel in environmental-spill, toxic-tort, and personal-injury litigation involving more than 1,300 plaintiffs in Louisiana. 

• Created templates for responding to new case in childhood vaccine litigation. 

• Developed and introduced the discovery process and strategy to defeat Missouri Attorney General investigation matter. 

• Mentored and educated teams of associates, paralegals, and support staff to handle litigation across state borders. 

• Drafted career development plans and guidelines to propel the careers of promising team members. 

• Created an associate training program adopted firm-wide designed to augment existing skill sets and improve identified areas for improvement.

Partner

Director of Legal Operations | I help legal teams operate more efficiently through change management, process improvements, automation, and technology solutions to allow them to do what they do best.

If you are a General Counsel, Chief Legal Officer, or a legal operations leader, you know that:

🛑 Your team is stretched too thin to take on improvement projects.
🛑 Your clients are facing increasing budget constraints.
🛑 Your team is not operating at maximum efficiency.

Your team needs help.   

We have been in your shoes. I led legal operations teams handling process improvement & technology solution projects during tough economic times. 

We can help your legal team:

✅Increase operational efficiency to improve your company’s bottom line.
✅Reduce legal expenses to meet budgets constraints.
✅Focus on what they do best – providing legal advice to their clients.

We have helped legal departments:

⬇️ Decrease legal spend by millions of dollars by creating and revising billing guidelines, implementing e-billing solutions, negotiating AFAs, implementing e-Discovery technologies, and creating, managing, and enforcing budgets.

✂️ Cut time spent on reviewing marketing material by legal personnel by 20% by developing templates and automation.

💰Reduce document review costs by over $1 million by using Technology Assisted Review

Team members with whom I have worked have said:

“While our in-house legal department reorganization felt chaotic in nature, Jeff kept all the moving parts organized and those affected informed of process and progress.  I cannot imagine how my newly developed legal department sub-group could have accomplished so much in such a short time without Jeff’s guidance and expertise.”
--Cindy S., C.O.R.E. team member at Fortune 100 Managed Health Care Consortium

“Jeff is fantastic. He is very strategic. He is an exceptionally hard worker and passionate about getting the right result for the company. His interpersonal skills are very good; he gets along well with everyone and listens to divergent points of view."
– Jean H, Senior V.P & G.C. at a medical device company

“I worked with Jeff for many years. He is extremely knowledgeable and easy to work with. He is fair and kind. His past experiences working in both law firms and corporations gives him the advantage of first-hand knowledge of both settings.”
– Lisa M., Litigation & Compliance at a consumer goods company

“Jeff brings a creative and practical approach to issues. He is a great mentor to team members and is a recognized leader within the organizations he has worked.”
– --Heather G., V.P. and Deputy G.C. at a national marketing cooperative

Your egal team needs help.  Contact me at (312) 416-8171 or jkruse@bakerlaw.com.

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Salvador Carranza

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