Introduction: 0:00

• Steph Corey, CEO and co-founder of UpLevel Ops and LINK, joins the podcast.
• Co-founded CLOC and served as Chief of Staff at Flex and VMware.
• Started her legal ops career at Hewlett Packard.

Switching to legal ops from finance: 2:50

• On realizing that finance and accounting weren’t the right path for her.
• Applying to an early legal ops job at Hewlett Packard in the 90s. 
• Making lives easier for HP’s legal time and being invisible.
• Implementing fundamental technologies.
• Forging a career path that mirrors the evolution of legal ops.
• Transitioning from administrative work to a strategic role.

Building trust with HP’s general counsel: 5:33

• On receiving great mentorship.
• HP paying for executive coaching.
• Seeing networking as critical.
• Trying to figure out what’s next.

Co-founding CLOC, the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium: 11:21

• Steph on finding other legal operations professionals.
• Coordinating monthly phone calls that became half-day workshops.
• Formalizing CLOC into a conference.
• Not knowing how big it would get. 
• Learning from each other. 
• Finding a seat at the table.

Do you need a JD to break into legal operations?: 15:47

• Steph on hiring people with different backgrounds.
• Business training vs legal training.
• Missing out on great candidates.

Tips for finding the right talent: 18:55

• Steph on the importance of diversity.
• Stepping out of your comfort zone.
• Sourcing recommendations from other departments in your organization.

How can legal operations professionals and general counsels work better together?: 23:03

• Steph on hiring people who complement your skill set.
• Intentionally creating a strong work culture.
• Focusing on people with leadership qualities.

Co-founding LINK, the Legal Innovators Network: 28:44

• On moving onto the seller side and leaving CLOC.
• Creating a smaller conference environment.
• Introducing more executives.
• Keeping conversations at a manageable size.

Merging Link with The L Suite: 31:54

• Steph on connecting with The L Suite
• Helping them build out an operations community.
• Bringing general counsels and other lawyers into the conversation.
• Focusing on practicalities.

The future of her consultancy: 38:23

• Steph on moving towards her career interests.
• Finding the right resources.

Connecting with Steph and LINK: 40:27

• Go to LINKforlegal.com to join.
• Reaching out to Steph directly at Steph@uplevelops.com.

Rapid-fire questions: 41:11

• Steph’s favorite part of the day-to-day.
• Professional pet peeves.

Book Recommendations: 45:46

• Burn Book: A Tech Love Story by Kara Swisher
• The Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman and Michael Bhaskar 

What you wish you’d known as a young legal ops professional: 49:30

• Steph on knowing that you have influence.
• Advocating for yourself.