What Story Will Your Metrics Tell?

The need for analytics was spurred by the 2008 financial crisis. Legal spend was seen as overhead and a necessary evil. To better manage expenses, corporate clients became focused on cutting costs for legal services. The results often led to a greater emphasis on building up internal expertise to deliver more value to their company and clients in a more cost-efficient way.

The use of metrics continues to evolve. By defining key performance indicators and mapping them back to concrete goals and objectives, we can spot shortcomings and drive performance and client satisfaction. Some common criteria legal departments measure are spend, workload and performance. Running regular analytics on budget identifies areas where you may be able to cut costs or reallocate resources, and helps you gauge how your outside counsel is performing. Metrics can uncover how long it takes to complete a case, what’s being handled in-house and what’s being outsourced. Tracking lawyer activity and productivity ensures that your team’s experience and expertise is utilized in the most efficient way.

Corporations can create their own ways to measure in-house and outside counsel performance. Legal teams can develop confidential surveys or internal scorecards in which employees rate attributes across a spectrum of numbers (1–10) or descriptions (Excellent – Unsatisfactory). Survey questions should cover topics related to lawyer responsiveness, accessibility, communication skills and expertise. Honest feedback will help your legal team understand where they are exceeding expectations and where there are unmet needs.