How to Get Looped in Early (Without Begging or Policing)

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Hi there! It’s Heather Stevenson.

Happy Wednesday and thanks for being here! Here’s what’s covered in today’s issue:

• Tired of being left out of key conversations until it’s too late? We’re deep diving how to avoid that;

• Links you’ll love;

• And more.

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Deep Dive

To make an impact, you have to know what’s going on

We’ve all been there. You’re going about your day, maybe listening in a recurring meeting or maybe just checking emails, when you hear or see something that makes your eyes nearly pop out of your head.

A decision has been made to do what? Regulatory hurdles, legal risks, and contractual complications—many of which likely could have been avoided by taking a different approach to the same goal—start running through your head.

You didn’t have a chance to flag a better approach. Because no one even told you this possibility was on the table.

In order to most effectively contribute, legal needs to be looped in early.

Shouting about how important you are or simply demanding it won’t be effective. Saying “This should have come to legal weeks ago” makes your colleagues feel chastised and like you’re a nag to be avoided (even if it should have come to legal weeks ago), which is obviously not your goal.

Here are some approaches that actually work.

1. Reframe early legal involvement as a value add, rather than a check-the-box

If your business partners think of legal as the last stop before launch—or worse, the group that says “no”—they’ll wait until they absolutely have to involve you. That’s the behavior you get when legal feels like a speed bump.

So flip the script. Make early legal input feel like a strategic advantage, not a compliance obligation.

That means showing up with ideas, not just issues. Connecting dots. Asking smart questions that help the team move faster, avoid risk, or align better with leadership goals.

Here’s one line that’s worked well for me:
“My team and I can be much better partners if we understand the big picture early. Looping us in sooner helps us move faster with fewer surprises.”

The more you position yourself as someone who helps drive progress, rather than just reduce risk, the more likely they are to come to you when it counts.

2. Actually be someone who helps, not slows things down

After you position the idea of including legal early as a value add, you need to actually make that true for it to be effective in the long run. That’s this next tip: be a helper and a builder, both when you’re looped in early and in your day-to-day work with teams across the company.

That way, people will want you in the room.

Do you approach meetings, projects, and your interactions generally as a way to work with others to build something important? Are your emails clear and actionable? When you spot a problem, do you offer a path forward—or just say no? When you disagree with someone, do you do so respectfully and with an open-minded approach that acknowledges they might be right, but at least initially, you see things differently?

Being the type of person who does these things is the best way to make sure you’re included early. If you consistently show that you understand the business, communicate like a leader, and help things move faster people will seek you out sooner.

3. Embed yourself in workstreams that matter

One of the best ways to get looped in early is to be where the work is happening generally, without anyone needing to think to loop you in.

That might mean asking to sit in on a recurring product, marketing, or strategy meeting—not as a watchdog, but as a partner who wants to understand what’s coming down the pipeline.

You don’t need to speak up in every meeting. In fact, sometimes just listening is most effective. You’ll spot issues earlier, build context for better legal advice, and—most importantly—build trust. When people see you as part of the team, they’re far more likely to include you from the start.

And this doesn’t just apply to big projects. Even casual Slack channels or quick check-ins can give you early visibility if you show up with curiosity and a collaborative mindset.

It’s easier to get looped in when you’re already in the loop.

4. Make it easier to bring legal in

Sometimes the biggest barrier to early involvement is that people don’t know you can help, or don’t know how to approach you to ask for help.

Your job is to teach them.

Create lightweight resources that clarify when and how to bring you in, who does what, and how best to communicate with the legal team. Plus when given the opportunity, talk publicly about all the ways that legal is available to help, so people realize that you aren’t just there for contract negotiation or for when things go sideways, and that you are also a strategic resource.

Plus put in place simple tools, like a single legal department intake system that people can use if they’re not sure who to reach out to, or an email alias that goes to the whole team or to one lawyer who will delegate to the right person.

5. Make early legal involvement part of the culture

The real win is when looping in Legal early becomes second nature and is just part of how the company works. That starts with repetition and storytelling.

When early involvement leads to a great outcome like less rework, faster approvals, or stronger deals, share that story. Not to take credit, but to reinforce the idea: This is what good collaboration looks like.

You can do this casually in meetings, in team debriefs, or even in a quick Slack shoutout. The goal is to help people see Legal as a value-added partner they’re smart to involve early.

And over time, that shift becomes cultural. Not because you mandated it. But because you modeled it.