Courtney Gordon – BNY

Many lawyers aspire to transition into business advisors, seeking to leverage their legal expertise to provide strategic guidance to companies. However, this shift often encounters challenges, as not all lawyers possess the necessary background or experience in business operations, finance or market dynamics.

Courtney Gordon | BNY | Senior Managing Counsel, Senior Director

While legal training equips them with critical thinking and problem-solving skills, the lack of practical business experience can hinder their ability to offer comprehensive advice.

This doesn’t apply to Courtney Gordon, an entrepreneur from her college days who often relies on her business experience while providing essential guidance as a trusted member of BNY’s legal team.

“I’ve always been entrepreneurial thanks to my parents, who are both entrepreneurs,” Gordon tells Vanguard during an interview from the company’s office in Pittsburgh in September. “I have leaned on my business background throughout my legal career.”

New York City-headquartered BNY is a global financial services company that provides a wide range of investment management and investment services. With a history dating back to 1784, it is one of the oldest financial institutions in the U.S. The firm delivers innovative custody, fund administration, and treasury services solutions, helping clients navigate complex financial markets and achieve their investment objectives.

Gordon, senior managing counsel, is leading an ambitious effort to streamline legal data across one of the world’s largest financial organizations. In her role, she oversees a comprehensive, bank-wide initiative aimed at breaking down traditional silos and unifying the company’s contract management process. The scale of this initiative is monumental—one that touches multiple facets of BNY’s operations, from sales and relationship management to post-execution operations and controls. Yet, at the heart of it all is a straightforward but powerful idea: using data to drive smarter, faster, and more consistent legal processes.

“I have long been an advocate of the power of data and its ability to transform not just legal operations but entire enterprises,” Gordon says.

Integrating new technology

At BNY, she is doing just that by focusing on integrating and streamlining legal data. It’s not just about deploying new tools or technology, though these are essential components. Instead, she emphasizes the importance of process—creating a comprehensive legal contract lifecycle management program that leverages advanced AI technologies and is built on a foundation of efficiency and forward-thinking practices.

Under Gordon’s leadership, BNY utilizes AI to enhance legal data management in several key areas. The company’s new CLM program is designed to reduce friction and inefficiencies from contract negotiation to the contracting process. Working with internal tools and external vendors to build the CLM program, Gordon explains that this effort isn’t solely about the tools being used—it’s about refining processes that have been in place for years, rethinking them, and ensuring they integrate smoothly with the rest of the bank’s operations.

The initiative that Gordon leads is particularly striking in its scope. It isn’t confined to the legal department; it involves teams across the bank, including sales, relationship managers, change managers, engineers and post-execution operations. Data is crucial every step of the way—how it’s collected, transferred to the appropriate legal team, and how contracts are created and managed after the fact.

“The workflows and systems BNY is building to support this are intricate, requiring precise coordination and integration across numerous platforms. Diagrams and workflows help map out these processes, illustrating just how vast and complex the program is,” Gordon explains.

What makes this initiative even more impressive is its forward-thinking nature. Gordon sees it as a way to ensure that BNY remains ahead of the curve in technology and innovation. By exploring AI capabilities and implementing new technologies, the bank positions itself as a legal operations leader in the financial services industry. Gordon is adamant that innovation is a core part of BNY’s culture, and the legal team’s efforts reflect that. The program is being rolled out in phases, following an agile methodology that allows for incremental progress and continuous improvement. Starting with a few lines of business and specific agreement types, the goal is to scale the program over the next few years.

Change is challenging

As with any large-scale transformation, Gordon acknowledges that challenges will arise. There will be hiccups along the way, and not everything will go smoothly. However, BNY is prepared for this. Support and maintenance teams are in place to adjust as needed, ensuring that the system evolves and improves over time. Every two weeks, the team meets to assess progress, identify areas that aren’t working as intended, and make necessary changes. It’s an iterative process, one that reflects the agile framework that has become standard practice in the tech world.

A central part of the initiative is standardizing legal language and agreement structures. This effort is part of a broader strategy to create a “One BNY” approach, particularly important for a financial institution of BNY’s size. Large banks often result from mergers and acquisitions, leading to fragmented systems and inconsistent processes.

“By standardizing these processes, BNY is reducing risk, improving efficiency, and shortening the time it takes to onboard clients. The result is a better experience for internal and external clients,” Gordon notes.

Gordon’s work has the full support of senior leadership, which she describes as “super excited” about the potential benefits. The C-suite understands the importance of this initiative and has been actively involved in its development. However, Gordon also recognizes that change can be difficult, especially for employees who have been working within the bank’s existing systems for years. That’s why BNY has a concerted effort to engage employees throughout the process. Workshops have been held to listen to employees’ concerns, understand their challenges, and incorporate their feedback into the program’s design.

Despite the emphasis on technology, Gordon is clear that the success of this initiative doesn’t solely rely on tools. In her view, it’s about improving processes and ensuring operational workflows make sense before investing in technology.

“Let’s organize ourselves in a manual state first,” she says, “and then make sure operational processes make sense before we buy or build technology.”

This practical approach reflects her entrepreneurial spirit, a quality she’s had since her college days at Penn State University, where she launched a small laundry delivery business called The Lazy Lion.

For Gordon, the project to transform BNY’s client contract lifecycle process is about more than just improving legal processes; it’s about positioning BNY for the future. By breaking down silos, improving efficiency, and embracing innovation, the bank is becoming more agile, more responsive to client needs, and better able to bring in revenue. And while the journey may not always be smooth, Gordon’s leadership ensures that BNY is well-equipped to navigate whatever challenges lie ahead.

Before joining BNY in January 2023, Gordon had a nearly five-year stint for Goldman Sachs as global co-head of the company’s regulatory documentation group. Before that, she spent almost four years in-house as a derivatives attorney for JPMorgan Chase & Co. She spent time in a law firm after earning her law degree from the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University.