Telstra’s lawyers were looking at how to reduce the effort involved in automating manual documents and answering repeat questions about process or legal issues. Telstra has focused on optimising its operations and how employees work, and is enhancing the use of digital technologies among its almost 30,000 staff to achieve this goal.

For Telstra Legal, a key priority was finding a way to leverage automation with tools that can trigger a cultural change.

Telstra selected Checkbox to equip its legal team with a powerful, no-code platform that enables the creation of legal apps and workflows—all without needing developer support. Lawyers can now build feature-rich tools through an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface, eliminating reliance on manual processes and outdated systems.

Initially, Telstra deployed Checkbox to automate a handful of specific tasks. However, the success of those implementations quickly inspired the legal team to scale up. They went on to build Engage Legal—a digital front door that centralizes all legal requests across the business.

Engage Legal allows business stakeholders to submit requests via a guided questionnaire, covering a broad range of legal scenarios. Based on their responses, the system intelligently routes the matter to the appropriate resource—whether that's an automated self-service app or a lawyer.

Many of these self-service apps were built directly within Checkbox and include:

By leveraging Checkbox, Telstra’s legal team can now:

• Streamline legal service delivery at scale
• Reduce administrative burden on legal staff
• Gain visibility into legal request patterns
• Provide faster, more consistent guidance across the organization

This transformation not only improved operational efficiency but also empowered the legal team to become a proactive business partner.

Telstra has used Checkbox to modernize how their legal team works, and the company aims to expand the platform and the benefits it delivers to Human Resources (HR), Sustainability and Accounting teams.

For Example, Telstra HR developed an app with Checkbox that has automated thousands of employment agreements, including new contracts as departments and roles change. Employees can now complete their contracts through a secure digital portal, pre-populated with information for their role, and a cover letter containing advice from HR experts to make the process simple. This has enabled Telstra HR to meet time-sensitive deadlines while improving the employee experience when engaging with HR processes.

They will also continue to investigate the automation of more complicated agreements, such as its standard technology procurement contracts. The next priority for Telstra is building a tool to speed up the ability to advise on product exits, which has become a high priority as Telstra goes through a radical product simplification drive.

Telstra has successfully modernized its legal operations with Checkbox and is now extending the platform’s benefits across other departments, including Human Resources (HR), Sustainability, and Accounting.

For example, Telstra HR built a Checkbox app that automates thousands of employment agreements during role or department changes. The digital portal:

• Pre-populates contracts with relevant role information
• Includes tailored cover letters from HR experts
• Improves the employee experience while ensuring fast turnaround on time-sensitive HR tasks

Looking ahead, Telstra plans to:

• Explore automation of more complex agreements, such as standard technology procurement contracts
• Develop tools that streamline legal advice for product exits, supporting the company’s product simplification strategy