In this episode of CLOC Talk, Oyango Snell, Executive Director of CLOC, reflects on a transformative year for the legal operations community. He shares key accomplishments from 2025, including renewed member engagement, governance modernization, and expanded global reach. Oyango also explores the mindset shift happening across legal ops—from fighting for recognition to confidently leading at the enterprise level. The conversation closes with a look ahead at what members can expect in 2026, including CGI Chicago and new opportunities to get involved.

Hi everyone, and welcome to Clock Talk,

the podcast where we explore how legal

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operations professionals are shaping

the future of the legal industry.

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I'm your host, Janessa Nelson,

and today we're taking a moment

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to reflect on the incredible

accomplishments of the Clock community.

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What Clock has done to progress

as an organization and what

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lies ahead as we look towards.

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2026.

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Joining us today, we're very excited.

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We have Ogo Snell.

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He's the executive director of Clock.

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Ogo, brings in a unique vantage

point working closely with members,

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partners, and leaders across

the global legal ops ecosystem.

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And today we're gonna dig into what

made this year so impactful due

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to his work and clock in general.

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We're really excited to talk to him.

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Ogo, welcome to Clock Talk.

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Happy to be here.

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It kind of feels weird being on

our own podcast, but I'm gonna

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embrace it and lean into it right

as the guest rather than the host.

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I think we're going a little

meta, we're doing clock on

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clock at this point, so yeah.

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Let's not have any clock

on clock crime though.

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So let's, let's talk about clock, you

know, as an organization in general.

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Let's look at what were some of clock's

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So many this year started off

with a lot of uncertainty.

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I was new to the role, new to the legal

ops community as a whole, and I had no

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expectations that were identified because

you don't know what you don't know.

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So when I came into the role, I

had an opportunity to kind of just

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survey the landscape, get to know

my team, get to know the board.

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Really start charting the

path forward from ground zero.

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I sort of had a blank canvas.

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You know, if I was an artist, I would,

I would've loved the opportunity to

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come into clock with this blank canvas,

so to speak, even though Clock had

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a 10 year history before my arrival.

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But I kind of had this blank canvas

of where we were going and the

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pathway that we were charting.

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So in getting to know the board, the

board's priorities, working in partnership

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with them, working in partnership with

the management team and the staff.

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I think that we've had some significant

kind of monumental achievements.

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I mean, we can start

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When I came on board, I heard a lot

about how Clock has lost its mojo.

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How a lot of people are

disassociating with clock

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because of this, because of that.

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Some for personal reasons, some

for transition to other careers,

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other professions, other industries.

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I had an opportunity to take all of

this in and think about how we could

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have a dynamic, wonderful experience.

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And even though we were gonna be moving

clock in future years and embracing

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what we were doing in Las Vegas,

it gave me an opportunity to learn.

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'cause this was, this would be my

first CGI experience, but also to

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think about how we can create more of

an experience for our participants.

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I think because of that shared philosophy

with our team, with our board, we

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kind of saw a renewed energy, sort of

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Obviously it was our

10th year anniversary.

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So celebrating that kind of brought

some nostalgic feelings, but

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also an opportunity to look ahead

at what the future looks like.

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So.

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That renewed energy with CGI

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for us as an organization.

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Some other key components was really

increasing and enhancing our membership,

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so I think that kind of renewed energy

that came from CGI continued on and

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percolated throughout the year and

more members began to renew, other new

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members began to join the organization.

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We launched for the first time, our

Clock Academy days, where we brought

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educational content to the communities

that we live, work, and play in, rather

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than just expecting everybody to come to

CGI and get that educational learning.

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So I think that there was significant

growth in numbers, energy.

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But also programming and looking at

how we bring programming to legal ops

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professionals where they are rather

than expecting them to flock to us.

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So those are just a few of some

of the things that I think we've

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seen some great achievements in.

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But I would be remiss if I did

not talk about some of the big

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elephants that are sitting in the

room, and that's our governance.

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Changing the way that we operate as an

organization, enhancing our board from

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nine members of the board of directors

to 16 members of the board of directors,

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changing some titles and nomenclature to

operate under the guise of best practices

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of running and leading associations,

and modernizing our governance.

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Eliminating stipends to board members

because we now have a competent staff that

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can run the operations and organization.

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Uh, so we're interested in

a lot of governance changes,

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programming changes, energy.

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I'm just so proud of what

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I mean, that brings up a, a great point.

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I think I've said this to a lot of

different clock members as well, is,

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you know, clock is listening and wants

feedback in order to sort of better

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prioritize what it's focusing on.

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And so can you talk a little bit more

about, you know, how Clock receives

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that feedback and how that impacts

priorities and the work that Clock does.

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Yeah, I am a member-centric individual.

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I don't know what the board was thinking

when they hired me, but I'd like to think

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that they were thinking that I was going

to bring about some association best

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practices while still being innovative,

entrepreneurial, and not being like

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a stodgy association, so to speak.

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Right.

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So.

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What I mean by that is I'm member centric

in the sense of wanting to understand

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and know what's on the member's mind.

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What do the members need to be

successful in this association to

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ensure that their value proposition

that they believe in is being met.

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So I was happy to know that one of

the reasons why we're moving CGI from

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Las Vegas to, even though we'll be

back, but why we're considering other

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cities, is because the members asked

us to look at other avenues, look

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at other cities and opportunities.

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Not everybody can make it to the West

Coast from a cost prohibitive perspective.

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Not everybody wants to go to Las Vegas.

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Three thing is that some people's

employers don't want to pay for them to

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go do professional development in Vegas.

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So those were three of the factors that

was presented from the members to the

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team that made the team stop and pause

and say, okay, how can we help support our

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members to be able to get the professional

development that they need in order to

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be successful by reimagining what the

Clock Global Institute could look like.

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So there was born Chicago CGI in 2026.

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That's one way we began

listening to our members.

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For me, when I came on board, I

kind of went on a listening tour.

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I called any and everybody who has been

affiliated with Clock since its founding.

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And I can say honestly, to this day,

I've been granted an audience with almost

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everybody, and I'm pretty happy about

that because it's given me an opportunity

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to do less talking and more listening.

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And think about how we can shape

Clock for the future and some of those

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recommendations and ideas and principles

and things that were shared with me

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during those early weeks and months.

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You now see that in the fruition of some

of the things I just explained during our

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last segment and, and, and when you asked

what were some of the accomplishments.

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Some of those accomplishments came by

me listening to some of our members who

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were concerned about our governance,

who were concerned about our programs,

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and whether or not we were upping the

ante from a substantive perspective

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and bringing programs to where they

are, rather than having them always

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have to come to CGI to get substantive

programming and how we could be more

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than just CGI as an organization because

we are, we do so many different things.

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So I think the, the level of listening

to our members and just trying to

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understand what our members needs.

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Is a continuous process, but it's one

that I think we've doubled down on

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this year in particular and really

started not only listening to them

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but taking what those voices are

saying to us and putting it to action.

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Yeah.

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Let's talk about some success stories.

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So, you know, one of the biggest

components of Clock is our membership

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members are really what makes Clock

so incredible, and especially like our

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community of learning that I think is.

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Such a unique area for legal ops.

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So can you give me some member success

stories this year and you know how they

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sort of capture our unique clock spirit?

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Yeah, absolutely.

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There's two that come to mind.

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One is sort of in a grouping,

so to speak, and what I mean by

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that is for the first time ever.

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We launched a nominations process for

individuals to either self nominate

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or be nominated by a clock member

to join the board of directors.

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The reason why this is such a success

story for our entire membership is

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because there was the ideal, or at

least the idea that was shared with me.

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That individuals didn't want to serve

on the board or didn't know how to

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serve on the board, and needed to be

educated as to what the process was.

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But there was no process identify,

at least where people could really

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understand it, see it, feel it, touch it.

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So we worked hard.

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The management team and the board worked

hard to put together this process.

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The reason why this is a success story

is because we went from not ever having

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a process to having a process and seeing

over 110 nominations for people who

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wanted to serve on the board, which then

equated to 47 applications of individuals

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who wanted to serve on the board.

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And after interviews and a good thorough

screening, we ended up bringing on 11

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new board members to the organization.

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In addition to that, we expanded

the way we think and began to start

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thinking like if we're going to truly

represent the legal ecosystem that we

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say we represent, that would include

people from our vendor community.

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And we allowed those individuals

to also serve on the board to lend

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their voice to what's happening in

the legal ecosystem, particularly

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as it relates to legal operations.

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So I think that that's a huge.

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Win from a membership perspective because

they will be thoroughly represented from

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a number of different diverse factions.

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And I don't mean diversity in the things

that we can see of gender representation

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or sexual orientation or, or race.

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I mean diversity in the sense of the

different backgrounds and industries

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in different walks of life that

people come from that represent our

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industry, that are on our board of

directors and get to lend their voice.

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To the shaping of the legal

operations industry for years to come.

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So I think that that was a huge win, not

only for Clock, but for our members and

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for the entire industry to have that type

of, uh, makeup represented on the board.

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So that process in and of itself, there's

been a number of people who I've talked

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to, and I won't mention any names, but

you would be amazed that when I'm out and

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about, there will be people who will talk

to me and they will say, Hey, you know.

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I haven't been involved in clock for many

years, but there's something new about

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Clock that makes me want to be a part of

it, and I'm gonna renew my membership.

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Those types of stories are not only

moving and inspiring for me because it

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shows us that we're on the right track.

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We're not there yet, but it shows

us that we're on the right track.

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But to get that type of response and

feedback from individuals in real

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time when, when I'm out and about at

events or different things like that.

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It shows me that people are paying

attention and they're starting to either

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see or reimagine what their value is and

what the organization's value is in their

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life and in their career trajectory.

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So those have been some of the just

little member success snippets that

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I'd like to mention today and, and, and

it's been inspiring and really makes

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me humble in leading the organization.

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Yeah, I'm a member, so I like to think

of myself as a success story as well.

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Getting more involved with Clock

has been really beneficial to my own

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professional development and what value

I get out of the Clock organization.

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Yeah, so I'm really excited for

what we're gonna do next year too.

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Yeah, definitely the leadership

opportunities that have come about, not

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just on the board, but to your point,

Janessa, as you said, like you've

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had an opportunity to play leadership

roles and have a voice and lend voice

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to various areas, not just on this

podcast, but even outside this podcast.

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To what's happening in our industry

and throughout the legal ecosystem and

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in other individuals who are similarly

situated to you in other capacities, to

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be able to help shape the organization,

shape the messaging, shape what it is

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that we're doing, and give the management

team and the leadership ideas as to how

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we can continue to enhance this industry.

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Those are those individual, let's

say, maybe unspoken and sometimes

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unseen benefits or wins rather,

that comes to the organization.

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Yeah, exactly.

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Let's get a little bit into the

sort of nitty gritty of, of stuff.

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I think part of the concentration

for Clock has been sort of trying

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to figure out how to turn the legal

ops theory that we've talked a lot

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about, and we talk a lot about CGI or

different things and how to sort of

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actually show the real world execution

and implementation of those theories.

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So what trends have you seen?

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As we're sort of going through this

process and evolving collectively as

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an organization and as sort of legal

ops in general, the most important

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shift that I've seen is the mindset

and everything starts with it.

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And let me tell you what I mean by that.

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Back in October, November of last year

when I was doing my due diligence and

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studying up on the organization, going

through the interview process, all the

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video content from the previous CGIs or

other webinars, or just things that I was

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able to find out in the public domain.

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A lot of the conversations back then

was fight for recognition and existence

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that we belong here, and I think that

that fight continues that we belong at

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the strategic decision making table.

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I think it's shifted to where we're

now designing our pathway forward.

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We're now architects of not

just efficiencies, but strategic

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effectiveness at the business level,

enterprise and not just on legal teams.

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So in a nutshell, I've seen a little

bit of a mind shift in the way we

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think and the way we talk about legal

ops, that it's not something that.

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We are proud of to ourselves amongst

our bubble, a ashamed of, because

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nobody's recognizing us and we

gotta fight for recognition on the

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in-house team and in our corporations.

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And again, that's not to say that people

aren't still fighting for that recognition

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because it's still happening amongst some

of our more reputable corporate entities

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that are even enterprise members of.

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But I think the mind shift has

shifted to, we know we belong here.

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We know we deserve a seat at

the decision making strategic

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level, and we're taking it.

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We are charting our path forward.

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We are developing the skills

that's necessary in order to

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be effective decision makers

and have a significant impact.

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On the bottom line, we are

collaborating with partners and.

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Colleagues and peers and vendors to

understand what's happening in the

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marketplace so that we could be ahead

of the game as it relates to the

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implementation of artificial intelligence.

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There I san it.

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We're however many minutes in, and

I've said AI for the first time,

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and folks within our legal ecosystem

are looking at opportunities to.

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Technology and its enhancements

and really just take leadership

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roles within the legal ops space.

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So I think there's just a shift

in mindset, and I just wanted

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to kind of define what I meant

by that, because that's such a

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general statement to say, right?

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And it's a generalization in a sense.

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Not everybody has had

that change in mindset.

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Agree.

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But I think overall, that's

what I felt over this last year.

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I've seen kind of a shift from fighting to

have a seat at the table, to recognizing

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that we have a seat at the table, but

now let's leverage the resources that

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we have in order to, one, maintain that

seat, and two, take it even further.

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I think some of the other trends

that we've seen have come about

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through our partnership with Harbor

in our estate of the industry report.

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Through that survey, we've learned

that there is an increased demand in

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legal services as well as an increased

demand on legal in-house teams.

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We've learned that.

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Individual teams are still struggling with

trying to understand how to incorporate

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diversity within their teams, but also

how to prepare for and leverage the

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implementation of artificial intelligence

technology enhancements that make them

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not just be efficient but effective.

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What technology and AI to invest in, how

to double down on it, how to make it.

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Be used in a way that's responsible,

that's ethical, but also helps

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the enterprise continue to grow.

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So we're starting to see that trend

take vote, especially when we see

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a doubling of legal tech spending

from last year to this year.

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So when we see those types of

things trending, that means that.

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Legal ops professionals have

an opportunity to lean in and

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leverage technological advancements

for the benefit of their teams

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as well as their enterprise.

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So those are just a few notable things

that I wanted to point out there as far

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as some of the trends and some of the

things that I'm seeing as far as kind of

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like a turning of the tide, so to speak.

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Absolutely.

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I definitely think it's becoming

more and more of a trend that legal

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loss professionals are needing to be

technological experts in some ways,

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especially around the legal tech tools.

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So that's definitely something I'm

experiencing and I know other people

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are experiencing as well, and we're

all trying to race to get to a place

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where we feel comfortable in that role.

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Let's turn a a little bit.

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We've talked a about technology and AI

and we've talked about member success

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stories and we talked about the clock

board in general, but I think one of

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the biggest sort of components for

Clock this year as well has been their

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sort of continued spread globally.

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Let's talk a little about what Clock

is doing globally and how we're

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sort of putting ourselves as global

authority in legal operations.

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Yeah, intent is the word that

comes to mind, or intentionality.

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To expand on that, this goes back to

when I started as well, when I came

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on board and had our first board

meeting in January, we set as a

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priority to be vocal, to be present,

to be supportive of our legal ops

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community outside the United States.

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I think in years prior,

that effort has been there.

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It just hasn't been with the intent in

mind that we set out to do this year.

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So we saw a growth in opportunities.

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I've had an opportunity myself to

spend some time in Europe, in Brazil,

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having an opportunity to talk with

legal ops professionals globally in

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Australia as well as in Asia, and you

can break Europe down into many different

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components because it's, it's huge.

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Having the opportunity to talk with

legal ops professionals in those spaces

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has given us kind of that confirmation

that we're on the right track.

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So when we had the conversation in

January about what we wanted to achieve

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as far as being supportive of the

communities outside the US as far as

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looking for the educational opportunities

that we needed to bring to those

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regions, it was less focused about

us taking what we do here in the us.

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And mimicking it or trying to take it

overseas rather than trying to understand

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what are the needs of those communities

and how do we then shape educational

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curriculum that fits and talks to the

cultures within those communities.

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And I think this year we've done

a better job at that and the

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intentionality I think is catching on.

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So regardless if it was having our

first o'clock Academy date in London

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or our half day, uh, summit, in

partnership with RSGI in London.

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Or our dinners in Amsterdam and Barcelona

and Spain, bringing together members of

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those communities to talk about trends

and different things that's happening in

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the legal op space to determine how we

can continue to grow, thrive, and prosper.

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The onboarding and launch of a

German region, which I'm excited

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to go to, uh, Frankfurt in February

and support them in their official

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launch in the Germany region.

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So it's just been so many significant.

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Growth opportunities throughout Clock

globally that I'm excited about.

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I would be remiss if I didn't talk

about the opportunity that we have

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to get more people outside the US in

leadership roles in clock, because

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that presence is missing on our board.

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We have one individual that

lives outside the United States.

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She happens to be our current

president on Alliance, which is

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a powerhouse in and of itself.

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But we need to look at other leadership

opportunities as well for people

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outside the US because we are a global

organization and if we're going to

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continue to fit that bill, we need those

voices, not just on our board, on on

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our councils, on our committees, work

groups at Cox, and even on center stage

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at CGI and at other events that we bring

to the table because it's important

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for us to have that global presence.

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And being able to have that voice aid in

the development, the creation, as well

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as the implementation of our content

and just substance health output.

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I mean, I'm trying to figure

out how I can get invited on

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all your trips for next year.

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You know, I am really excited to

learn more from all of our Clock

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Global leaders, and I think it's

gonna be one of the best things that

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we have impact the organization.

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So let's talk about

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What excites you the most about

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and for the clock members?

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Let me see.

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I think something's

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I can't quite put my thing.

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Oh, I remember what it is.

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It's the Clark Global Institute

that's happening in Chicago in May.

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I think that's what, yeah, that's

the one that I wanted to talk about.

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I'm pretty, that's what

we're talking about.

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Yeah.

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It almost slipped my mind

that that was happening.

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I think I said something about it earlier,

but then it almost slipped my mind that

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that's what I'm so excited about for 2026.

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So what I'm excited about most Janessa

is the Clock Global Institute in

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Chicago, May 11th through May 14th.

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And the reason why I'm excited for

so many reasons is one, because we

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are responding to our membership.

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That's first and foremost,

we talked about that, right?

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But above and beyond that, we have

an opportunity to reimagine what CGI

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is and what it looks like, and I am

most excited about that, bringing this

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sense of renewed energy to Chicago.

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I just have to admit.

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Share with the audience who have not

had an opportunity to meet me yet.

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It is my hometown.

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I was born and raised on the south side

of Chicago, where I went to elementary

378

school, middle school, junior high

school, and high school, uh, before

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leaving the go away to college.

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But the decision was already made

before I joined Clock, so I had

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no influence on that, but I'm so

excited that that decision was made.

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I'm excited for Chicago because I think

the substantive programming is, and the

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way things are set up is gonna offer a

little bit of a different flavor this

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year as we've had a chance to kinda

learn from previous CGIs and kind of mold

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and shape our content and programming

around our audience and our participants.

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We've included great programming at

the executive level in partnership

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with Vanguard is something

that I'm looking forward to.

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We, I think we had over 220 something

proposals that were submitted for

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programming, which is a record.

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I'm so excited about what

we're gonna be able to do.

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I'm also looking forward to some

of the things that we're trying

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for the first time, like a all day,

or at least a single day pass for

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individuals who are in the Chicago area.

394

Or around to be able to come and visit

the exhibit floor if they don't wanna

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participate in the conference all

day, but still want to talk to vendors

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and get to know what are the trending

products and services that are out there.

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Particularly rather it's ai contract

lifecycle management programs,

398

or whatever the case may be.

399

Whatever their interests are, they

can come and spend a half day to talk

400

with vendors or actually a full day

to talk with vendors and understand

401

what's trending in the marketplace.

402

So I'm excited about these little nuggets.

403

I'm excited about the McCormick place

because it's huge and you have nothing

404

but ample opportunities, and I'm

excited to have some deep dish pizza.

405

I will not lie to anyone.

406

I cannot wait to get to some

deep dish pizza back home, rather

407

than some of the fake deep dish

pizza that cities in California

408

and Nevada have tried to emulate.

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Well, I'll make sure we put in our

reservation for peak quads so that

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you can have the best in in Chicago.

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I would add though Janessa, while

CGI is the biggest events that we

412

have all year, I am excited for our

summits in our regions outside the

413

US in Australia and Spain and London.

414

Our Europe summit, that's coming up

February 5th, I'm excited about Germany.

415

As I told you, they're launching

their regional chapter officially in

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Feb on February 11th in Frankfurt.

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But last year, or this year rather,

was the first time clock ever had

418

a summit outside the US in the

native language of that country.

419

The clock espania hosted

its summit in all Spanish.

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There were two English speakers,

myself and our dear friend Tom Rice,

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who sits on the European Advisory

Group and lives in Barcelona.

422

But unfortunately, both of us together

only knew enough Spanish to be dangerous,

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so we decided not to try and did, uh,

communicate our keynotes in English.

424

But it just goes to show you that.

425

We're not only growing in territory,

we're growing in how we deliver content.

426

So to have a all Spanish event, who's to

say we couldn't have an event in France

427

and all French, or in Germany and all

German, or in Amsterdam and all Dutch.

428

I mean, there's just

so many opportunities.

429

I'm also excited about our partnerships.

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I truly believe that growth in

this industry will be aided in

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the most efficient and effective

manner through partnerships.

432

So our partnership with RSGI, our

partnership with lpo, we're having

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conversations with others outside the us.

434

Our partnership with Vanguard,

as I mentioned, who's, who's

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helping us, and then individuals.

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There's just so much happening in this

industry and in this space that I'm

437

excited about and looking forward to kind

of bringing those partnerships to fruition

438

because it only helps strengthen our

industry and helps chart a path forward

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for individual professionals within it.

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I think we're, we're coming up on

when they're gonna signal us for

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time, so let's, uh, close it out.

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What is your final message that you'd like

to leave the clock members as they reflect

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on 2025 and prepare for the year ahead?

444

I truly believe that reflection is

the greatest learning facilitator.

445

But if done correctly, it not

only sets the foundation, but it

446

springboards you to future success.

447

When you reflect properly and really

think about where you're going.

448

I'll spend the next couple

of weeks doing that.

449

Reflecting on 2025, I can easily

rattle these things off on the great

450

things we've done and pat ourselves

on the back and high five and you

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know, congratulate the staff and

congratulate the board for a good year.

452

But what that does for us is have us

level set and dive deeper into how

453

we can better serve our membership.

454

Going into next year by understanding

their needs, by understanding their

455

wants, and serving them in a way where

this community that they talk about,

456

that we all embrace is really thriving

in a way to move the industry forward.

457

So my message to our members would be

simply this, join clock as a movement.

458

I don't mean renew your membership ol.

459

I mean, renew your

membership, but get engaged.

460

Get involved, because we can

only go as far as we go together.

461

We can do many, many things individually

and achieve great outcomes, but

462

if we are to band together, we

can actually achieve the greatness

463

that we aspire this industry to be.

464

And by getting involved and

getting engaged and helping

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chart that path forward.

466

That's gonna be the only way we're gonna

really be able to be effective in a way

467

that helps this industry get on the map.

468

That's beautiful.

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Thank you so much Orango for your

time and for joining us and sharing

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your reflections and insights.

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They were so valuable to me and I

hope for other people in the clock

472

community, and I just wanna say thank

you to our listeners, clock members

473

and legal op leaders around the world.

474

You continue to move this profession

forward through innovation,

475

collaboration, and leadership.

476

If you join today's episode, please.

477

Be sure to subscribe to Clock Talk.

478

We would really appreciate it.

479

It helps not only with us getting to

more legal ops leaders, but it really

480

helps with engagement and, and being

able to continue with the series.

481

Make sure to share this with

your colleagues and join the

482

conversation in the clock community.

483

Until next time, keep leading, keep