From Legal Ops to CLO Innovation: How Ferring’s Contracting Strategy Is Shaping the Future

As organizations face mounting pressure to modernize legacy processes, legal departments are transforming into broader strategic partners. At the intersection of digital transformation and legal innovation lies contract lifecycle management (CLM), a function increasingly viewed as a business-critical discipline. According to a McKinsey report, companies that optimize CLM processes can reduce contracting cycle times by up to 50%. For global, highly regulated industries like pharmaceuticals, the stakes are even higher—with efficiency, compliance, and agility all in play.

How can legal operations evolve to become a hub of innovation, empower cross-functional teams, and deliver measurable business value through CLM?

In this episode of Fast Track by Icertis, hosted by Chief Evangelist Bernadette Bulacan, Sheila Dusseau, Head of Legal Operations at Ferring Pharmaceuticals, joins from the CLOCK Global Institute 2024 to share how her role—and the very structure of her team—has transformed. Together, they explore how a "CLO organization" mindset, strategic technology adoption, and human-centric design have driven Ferring's contract transformation journey.

Three Key Takeaways:

• From Legal to CLO: Ferring's shift from a traditional legal department to a Chief Legal Officer (CLO) organization expanded its operational scope and empowered a wider set of professionals.
• CLM Transformation: Contracting innovation began with harmonizing over 20 MSA templates and involved inclusive design thinking, change management, and user-centric workflows. Contracting innovation began with harmonizing over 20 MSA templates and involved inclusive design thinking, change management, and user-centric workflows.
• Strategic Vision: With a "wildly improbable goal" (WIG) of frictionless contracting, Ferring is embedding AI, digital assistants, and data science into its CLM systems to reimagine efficiency at scale. With a "wildly improbable goal" (WIG) of frictionless contracting, Ferring is embedding AI, digital assistants, and data science into its CLM systems to reimagine efficiency at scale.

Sheila Dusseau is a pioneer in legal operations with over 15 years of experience, including ten years in the U.S. before joining Ferring Pharmaceuticals in Switzerland in 2019. Now Head of CLO Operations and Innovation, she leads a growing team focused on advancing legal, compliance, privacy, and contract operations. Her approach blends strategic foresight with a passion for human-centered design and cross-functional collaboration.