Make sure that when the initiative launches and is successful, you give some credit and praise to your legal department for playing a role in the project. After all, success is a team effort and your legal department should be considered part of your team, or at the very least part of most of your project teams.

This approach not only applies to your legal department but applies to all of your cross-department team members. Especially with your legal department, participation in the fruits of the successfully launched initiative is just as important as the initial involvement at the beginning of the project.

At the end of the day, the most important factor is making sure that every department is focusing its decisions on business goals. If you find that your legal team is out of alignment with these goals and exerting its wrath as the "Business Prevention Unit," apply the previously mentioned steps and aim for greater alignment. Your company's success, and your sanity, depend on it.