Heather Kidd
Senior Editor & Writer
at LawVu
Written by
When many organizations lose a GC, the priority is finding a replacement. Kansas State University took a different approach. During a period of leadership transition, the university’s legal team first focused on defining what it wanted to become.
“We were tasked with developing a strategic plan for our unit that would help shape the way the university went and searched for the next general counsel,” says Deputy General Counsel Blake Billings.
The result was a roadmap built around trust, legal excellence, and operational efficiency. More importantly, it created a foundation that would later attract Charles Jake to the role of general counsel and help establish a modern legal function capable of supporting one of higher education’s most complex environments.
Their story offers valuable lessons for any legal department seeking to move beyond a reactive service model and become a strategic business partner.
Complexity at every turn
It is difficult to overstate the complexity of a modern higher education legal department. Kansas State University, founded in 1863 by legislation championed by President Abraham Lincoln as the first land-grant university in the United States, serves approximately 22,000 students and 5,000 employees across multiple campuses. Its responsibilities extend far beyond teaching and research.
As Kansas’ land grant institution, the university has a presence in all 105 counties across the state through extension services, youth development programs, agricultural initiatives, economic development efforts, and community outreach activities.
“All of the taxpayers in the state have a vested interest in the longevity of this institution,” says Billings.
That broad mission creates a legal workload unlike almost any other sector. For K-State University’s legal team, a typical day can involve employment matters, governance issues, public records requests, research agreements, athletics, construction projects, constitutional questions, student affairs, compliance obligations, and regulatory requirements, often simultaneously.
Jake, who has spent more than two decades working in higher education law and believes the diversity of issues is one of the sector’s defining characteristics, says, “It’s never boring. You’ve got everything from student issues to housing to construction to whatever area of law you can think of, this practice touches on it.”
For legal leaders, that level of complexity makes strategy essential. Without a clear operating model, legal teams risk becoming overwhelmed by competing priorities and constant reactive work.
Building the future before hiring a leader
The roots of K-State’s modern legal function can be traced back to the period before Jake joined the university.
Following the departure of the previous general counsel, the legal team found itself navigating both organizational change and a university-wide strategic planning process. Rather than waiting for a new leader to arrive, the team decided to define its own direction.
Working alongside an external consultant, lawyers and staff developed a strategic plan aligned with the university’s Next Gen K-State strategy. Billings says at its core were three simple principles: “We’re going to be really trusted people. We’re going to be really good lawyers, and we’re going to do it more efficiently.”
While straightforward, the framework provided clarity around the department’s purpose and priorities.
For Jake, who was serving as GC at another institution when he was approached about the role, the existence of a dedicated legal department strategy stood out immediately. “A strategic plan specifically for the legal department was new,” he says. “That was encouraging that we were thinking about things in a very intentional way.”
The strategy signaled something important. The legal department was not simply focused on supporting the institution. It was also committed to improving itself as both a service provider and a strategic partner.
That mindset helped distinguish Kansas State from many organizations where legal departments are forced to spend most of their time responding to immediate demands.
The three pillars of a modern legal department
The strategic plan provided more than a set of goals. It established a practical framework built around three pillars that would shape how the legal department operates, makes decisions, and measures success. Together, they provide a blueprint for building a legal function that is trusted by stakeholders, aligned with institutional priorities, and capable of scaling with the university’s needs.
The first pillar, trust, reflects the department’s belief that strong relationships are essential to effective legal advice. Rather than waiting for issues to arrive at their desks, lawyers are encouraged to build visibility across campus, understand stakeholder priorities, and engage proactively with university leaders. The goal is to become trusted advisors rather than last-minute reviewers.
The second pillar focuses on legal excellence. For Billings and his colleagues, being a great lawyer means more than technical proficiency. It requires understanding how legal advice supports the university’s broader mission.
As Billings explains, the objective is not simply to handle the legal work that must be done but to think strategically about “how do we advance the mission? How do we advance the institution?”
The third pillar centers on efficiency. K-State views legal operations as a strategic discipline that improves processes, streamlines workflows, and reduces administrative burden. In an environment of growing workloads and finite resources, it creates the capacity needed for higher-value legal work and supports a more scalable legal function.
The three pillars are mutually reinforcing. Trust enables better legal advice. Efficiency creates time for strategic engagement. Together, they allow legal teams to contribute more effectively to organizational success.
A partnership built on trust and clarity
The relationship between Jake and Billings provides perhaps the clearest example of how the department puts its philosophy into practice. The pair describe a structure that closely resembles a CEO and COO partnership. “The GC serves the CEO, and then there’s a deputy that can serve as a kind of COO,” says Billings.
Under that model, Jake focuses on institutional leadership, executive engagement, and enterprise-wide issues. Billings concentrates on operational execution, attorney management, coordination, and information flow. The arrangement allows each leader to focus on where they can create the greatest value.
When Jake arrived, he found a department that was prepared for the transition. “It felt more like the table had been set. We have this thing in place, and we just need someone to drive it.”
That preparation allowed him to focus on leadership rather than crisis management.
Meanwhile, Billings acts as a connector across the legal team, helping lawyers share knowledge, identify patterns, and align their work with institutional priorities.
The mutual respect between the two leaders is evident. Jake consistently credits the team’s strength and the groundwork laid before his arrival, while Billings speaks enthusiastically about the opportunity to help execute a shared vision. Together, they have created a structure that balances strategic leadership with operational discipline.
Creating a scalable legal function
Like many legal departments, K-State’s team must support a growing and increasingly complex organization without unlimited resources. Its solution has been to build a model that emphasizes collaboration, relationship ownership, and knowledge sharing.
Lawyers operate as generalists while maintaining responsibility for specific stakeholder groups and practice areas. This allows them to develop expertise and relationships without creating rigid silos. As Billings notes, “There’s too much going on across our enterprise for all of us to know everything that’s happening.”
The answer is not greater specialization alone. It is creating systems that allow information, knowledge, and expertise to flow efficiently across the department. The approach has helped the legal team remain agile while maintaining a close connection to the university’s strategic priorities.
For legal leaders in any sector, the lesson is clear. Modern legal departments do not become strategic partners by accident. They require intentional leadership, clear operating models, strong relationships, and a commitment to continuous improvement.
Kansas State University’s experience demonstrates what becomes possible when those elements come together. The legal department is no longer simply responding to legal issues as they arise. It is helping shape the future of the institution it serves.
See how modern legal departments are using technology and legal operations to create capacity for strategic work with LawVu LegalOS.
Want the full conversation?
Hear Charles Jake and Blake Billings share their experiences leading legal at Kansas State University, including the challenges, stories, and leadership lessons behind this article. Listen to the full episode of The Legal Leaders Podcast.
