5 Ways Legal Teams Can Use KPIs to Quantify Their Value, Law360

In an article published by Law360, New Era Co-Founders Shane Mulrooney and Michelle Tyler encourage legal departments to implement key performance indicators – quantifiable performance measures of their organization’s success – to move beyond anecdotal achievements and demonstrate their contribution to the business.

Shane and Michelle write, “Generally, the biggest hurdle with any new departmental endeavor is figuring out where to begin. The good news is that, for legal departments at generally well-functioning businesses, half of the work should already be done. Legal department KPIs should be inextricably tied to the top-line overall business goals, and you should be able to draw a straight line from any particular departmental KPI directly to a strategic goal of the business.”

When it comes to getting started, Shane and Michelle suggest examining the business's goals for the next quarter, year, five years, and so on, and then identifying the levers the legal department can pull to contribute to those goals. “Then, determine how to measure the impact of these levers, including not only their contribution to moving the needle, but also any internal metrics that can drive legal department improvement.”

Shane and Michelle offer readers a few examples of common approaches to measuring and reporting so that legal departments can develop a thoughtful framework.

Subscribers to Law360 can read their article here.