How to Win Gold: What Legal Can Learn From Alysa Liu's Olympic Story

As you probably know, the 2026 Winter Olympics just came to a close in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. And if you’ve been following the event (or even just the news) one name that has lit up headlines and captured major attention is Alysa Liu.

Representing Team USA, Liu captured two gold medals for figure skating—one in women’s singles and another in the team event—an extraordinary achievement on the sport’s biggest stage.

But what makes her story remarkable isn’t just the medals. It’s the journey.

Alysa rose to prominence as a child prodigy, competing at an elite level before most athletes even finish high school. With early success came national attention and high expectations. The spotlight arrived quickly, but so did the pressure to keep climbing.

Then, after placing sixth at the 2022 winter olympics in Beijing, she made an unexpected decision to step away from the sport entirely.

However, she eventually returned to figure skating in 2024. This decision wasn’t driven by hype or outside expectations. It was a personal choice rooted in maturity, perspective, and a renewed love for the sport. With the steady support of her father and family behind her, she came back grounded and focused. The two gold medals were not just a triumph of talent, but the result of a thoughtful reset

And for in-house legal teams navigating relentless growth and rising expectations, there’s a parallel that can be drawn and more importantly, a powerful lesson that can be taken away. Let’s dive into the various stages that led the young athlete to success and how legal can apply these learnings to ‘win gold’ themselves.

The Challenge: The Pressure to Keep Climbing

In elite sport, momentum can feel like a trap. When you’re winning, the expectation is simple: keep going, keep improving, and keep proving yourself.

Alysa Liu experienced that early. After breaking records as one of the youngest U.S. champions, the narrative was already written for her. She was expected to carry the future of American figure skating. Every performance was scrutinized. Every result was measured against growing expectations.

Sound familiar? Well, for many in-house legal teams (especially inside high-growth companies) the trajectory looks similar. As the business scales, legal is asked to scale with it. This means they face more contracts, compliance demands, board visibility, and cross-functional involvement.

The default response to this mounting pressure is to push harder by working longer, absorbing more, and trying to stay ahead of the curve. But just as in sport, constant growing expectations without structural support is unsustainable. Talent alone cannot carry the load forever and at some point, something has to change. 

The Reset: Step Away & Look at the Bigger Picture

When Alysa stepped away from competitive skating, it surprised many. From the outside, it looked like quitting at the peak. But from her perspective, it was about reclaiming balance and rediscovering why she skated in the first place. Stepping away was a strategic pause that gave Alysa a chance to reset physically, mentally, and emotionally. It was a moment to separate external expectations from internal motivation.

Unfortunately, in-house legal teams rarely feel they have that luxury as when demand spikes, the instinct is to absorb it. However, constant acceleration without reevaluating systems, priorities, and capacity leads to burnout, not excellence.

For legal leaders, a reset doesn’t necessarily mean stopping work. It can mean:

• Redesigning intake instead of reacting to inbox chaos
• Automating repetitive tasks instead of manually triaging everything
• Clarifying priorities instead of treating every request as urgent
• Building visibility instead of relying on anecdotal workload

Alysa didn’t abandon ambition. She recalibrated. And for legal teams under pressure to keep climbing, that recalibration can be the difference between short-term survival and long-term performance.

The Comeback: Returning Stronger

When Alysa returned to competition, it wasn’t a continuation of her old trajectory. In fact, it was entirely a new chapter. She came back with clarity, confidence, and a healthier relationship with the sport. The pressure hadn’t disappeared, but her foundation was different.

Her performances were not just technically strong. They were composed, intentional, and grounded. The two gold medals were the visible outcome of something less visible: a stronger and more resilient internal structure.

For legal teams, a “comeback” means building a stronger foundation so they can handle pressure without feeling overwhelmed. And that foundation usually starts at the very beginning with legal intake.

Intake is simply how legal receives work from the business. When it’s unorganized, requests come through various channels such as email, Slack, meetings, and conversations. Important details are usually missing, priorities are unclear, and lawyers end up spending too much time chasing information instead of actually doing the work. To fix this foundation and reset effectively, corporate legal teams need to redesign their intake process and create an organized entry point (i.e. a Legal Front Door) where all legal requests are submitted. 

Once that starting point is strong, everything downstream becomes easier. Approvals move faster, reporting is clearer, workloads are visible, and the team can focus and perform at a high level.

Just like Alysa didn’t skate well because she pushed harder, but because she returned with a stronger foundation, legal teams perform best when their starting point is solid. And when legal performs well, the entire business runs more smoothly and confidently.

The Support System: Legal Doesn’t Win Alone

Another important part of Alysa’s story is the steady support of her father and family throughout her journey. Behind every gold medal performance was a strong support system that helped her train, reset, and return with confidence.

Legal teams are no different.

Even with a strong intake foundation and a clear legal front door, high performance doesn’t happen in isolation. Legal needs alignment and support from the broader business. That includes executive sponsorship, clear priorities from leadership, and cross-functional buy-in.

When the business understands how to engage legal properly, and when leadership supports legal’s operating model, the entire system works better. Expectations are clearer, turnaround times improve, and legal can focus on strategic work.

Just like Alysa’s performance on the ice was supported by the people behind the scenes, legal’s ability to perform at a high level depends on the structure and support surrounding the team. And when that support is in place, excellence becomes far more achievable and sustainable.

Key Takeaways

Alysa Liu’s journey reminds us that winning isn’t about nonstop momentum. It’s about knowing when to reset, rebuilding on a stronger foundation, and returning with the right support system in place.

For legal teams, that foundation starts with intake.

When you create a clear, structured legal front door, work arrives organized and ready to execute. Priorities become clearer, pressure becomes manageable, and instead of constantly reacting, legal can lead.

If your team feels stuck in firefighting mode, take a page out of Olympian Alysa Liu’s book and fix the starting point.

Want to learn more about how a Legal Front Door can help your team build a stronger foundation and perform at its best? Schedule a call with one of our technology consultants today.