InView Magazine: Issue 7 out now!
In many ways, Elaine Darr’s career story is one of personal, professional and organizational transformation. Formerly Vice President of Legal and Regulatory Affairs at DHL Supply Chain, Elaine was recently named SVP, Global Head of Digital Legal & Innovation at DHL Group. In her 14 years with the company, she has shown a strong commitment to modernizing legal operations.
From political ambitions in her youth to leading strategic innovation initiatives in one of the world’s largest logistics companies, Elaine has always had a focus on growth and reinvention. “I was one of those people always running for student council, in debate club, wanting to do more activities,” she recalls. “I thought I’d be a politician, maybe a congresswoman someday.”
But her career goals shifted during her internship at Ohio State’s Statehouse. Deciding that the political world wasn’t for her, she pivoted from political science to business, eventually attending law school at Capital University.
After nearly a decade in private practice, specializing in commercial real estate and general business law, Elaine faced a crossroads. And that’s when a lunch meeting changed everything.
“I got invited to lunch with the man who would become my boss. He was building out the legal department at DHL,” she says. “He had a vision of growing the legal function with a professional, business-focused approach. It wasn’t just about checking boxes. It was about building something from the ground up.”
Elaine took the leap, joining DHL. And what began as an opportunity to help shape a legal department has evolved into a dynamic, multidimensional leadership role.
DHL, headquartered in Bonn, Germany, operates in more than 230 countries with five global divisions. Elaine’s remit spans the Americas, focusing on the supply chain division – one part of a complex global legal structure which also includes express shipping, freight forwarding, e-commerce and mail services.
Early in her tenure, Elaine was promoted to Vice President of Legal, leading a commercial contracting team composed of both lawyers and non-lawyers. This role, she says, marked a pivotal shift in her career, setting the tone for what would become her long-term approach to legal leadership: strategy-first, people-focused, and deeply aligned with business needs.
“It was during that first move that I really learned the importance of stepping into leadership; not just managing people but putting together a vision and helping others succeed,” she says.
Elaine’s eye for strategy didn’t go unnoticed. She was later tapped to lead Operations Excellence, a business-side function governing safety, quality, security and digitalization – the connective tissue which supports DHL’s massive supply chain operations.
“We had a very progressive board,” Elaine explains. “Our CEO told us, ‘We’re interested in leadership attributes, not just who’s the best lawyer.’ The focus was on upgrading functions from good to great, and on building high-performing teams.”
This culture, which places a high value on leadership and cross-functional thinking, is at the heart of what keeps people at DHL, Elaine says.
“What we do isn’t always glamorous – it’s logistics. But people stay because they love what they do, and because the environment is one that supports creativity, continuous improvement and the use of technology to solve problems.”
Eventually, Elaine returned to legal in an expanded role, bringing with her the business mindset that had served her so well in operations. She now oversees both legal and regulatory affairs, as well as innovation, legal technology and analytics – a combination which effectively charges her with the task of leading the legal team into the future.
Her regulatory affairs work is focused on high-stakes compliance in areas such as pharmaceuticals and defense contracting. There’s also an increasing emphasis on influencing policy changes as they develop.
“I’m not a lobbyist,” she notes. “But I work closely with our D.C. team to make sure our company’s interests are represented and understood. It’s a matter of both interpretation and influence.”
Under Elaine’s leadership, DHL’s legal team has evolved from a traditional support function into an innovation hub, embracing legal operations at a whole new level. Their strategy started with foundational systems: building a robust legal intake portal, a top-tier document management system, and external counsel and matter management platforms.
“We’ve been investing in data analysts, IT architecture experts and data scientists,” she says. “All these roles are critical to what we’re doing in legal. And by no means are lawyers doing it all – it’s about building a multidisciplinary team.”
One of the team’s most cutting-edge initiatives involved training a large language model (LLM) on ten years of internal position statements – documents prepared in response to employee complaints.
“We trained a model using historical documents. Now it can draft new responses based on the same types of claims,” Elaine explains. “The attorney still reviews and signs off; quality control is critical. But we’re saving up to 80 percent of the time that it used to take. That’s huge.”
This project, made possible by years of disciplined data management, reflects how prepared DHL was to capitalize on the potential of AI the moment it became viable.
“So many departments are still trying to organize their data. Because we had a strong document management system in place, we were able to move fast. You need structured data if you want to take advantage of these technologies.”
Another forward-thinking initiative has been DHL’s three-phase billing project, which not only reimagines law firm collaboration but also introduces market-based billing practices.
Phase one gives external law firms access to a collaborative workspace in which historical legal documents, such as motions to dismiss, are stored.
“We changed our external counsel guidelines,” Elaine says. “Now, firms have to check the collaborative space before drafting from scratch. If we’ve done similar work in the past, they need to leverage that first.”
In phase two, the same firms are using generative AI to assist in drafting new work product. Phase three then integrates AI into the billing process, ensuring that billing rates align with market standards, not just law firm quotes.
“It’s all about end-to-end efficiency,” Elaine says. “Use existing work product, draft smarter with AI, and ensure that billing matches market value.”
This blend of operational savviness, innovation and legal rigor is what continues to define Elaine’s approach. And it’s grounded in DHL’s culture, which is one that rewards leadership, invests in talent, and isn’t afraid to push boundaries.
“I have a passion for change and transformation,” she says. “And I’m fortunate to work in an organization that doesn’t just tolerate that, it encourages it.”
In a profession which can sometimes be slow to embrace change, Elaine is a reminder of what is possible when legal teams embrace business thinking, cross-functional collaboration and cutting-edge technology – all while staying grounded in leadership and culture.
NB: This interview was conducted prior to Elaine starting her role as SVP, Global Head of Digital Legal & Innovation at DHL Group.
