Extract from Petra Pasternak’s article “Getting Started with In-House Metrics”
Gathering and analyzing data on legal workloads, efficiency, and spending can be challenging, but it’s essential for in-house legal teams that want to do more than put out daily fires.
Metrics are the gateway to strategy. They help legal departments make informed decisions, track progress to key goals, and demonstrate alignment with business priorities. Data-backed reporting also helps highlight the team’s contributions to the company.
Before launching a metrics program, legal leaders need to know what they’re trying to learn or improve. Without this clarity, a team can wind up tracking what’s easy to measure rather than what’s meaningful.
“There are a million different things we can track,” said Steph Corey, co-founder of UpLevel Ops and a recognized leader in legal operations. “Don’t track just for the sake of tracking. Ask yourself: What are you trying to look for to make decisions? What behavior are you trying to drive? That’s what you should track.”
So where should a legal team begin?
Corey, along with Managing Director of Luna Legal Ops Juanita Luna and Everlaw Strategic Discovery Advisor Chuck Kellner, shared best practices and tips in the “The Value of In-House Teams: Metrics for a Compelling Story” webinar.
