For both corporate and outside counsel, metrics can improve efficiency, deliver cost predictability and forecasting and more. LLM, Inc.’s latest infographic, “Metrics in Motion,” informs counsel what types of metrics to capture and where.
The infographic delivers why metrics matter, questions to consider, where to collect metrics and what types, analyzing and reporting, and data action steps to take.
1. Metrics in Motion:
The Big Picture: Why Metrics Matter
Getting Started:
Questions to Consider
Tips for
Achieving
Buy-In
How to Move Past Data Gathering and Gain Real Value
CORPORATE
COUNSEL FIRMS BOTH
• Select, manage and
evaluate outside
counsel
• Manage and show
success of in-house
team to the business
• Improve efficiency
• Deliver cost predictability
and forecasting
• Increase transparency
• Improve project
management
In God we
trust, all
others must
bring data.
-W. Edwards Deming
• Build stronger client
relationships
• Deliver information to
help maintain profitability
and competitiveness
What are your
organization’s pain
points?
Are the metrics actionable?
How frequently do you collect/report the data?How to encourage adoption
and compliance of data
collection?
Explain why capturing metrics
is important and the impact
on the business
What’s available to track?
What does
leadership want to
see?
Emphasize the integral role
the team plays in the process
Equip the team with the
proper tools
Consider adding participation
to employee evaluations
Mind Your Business:
Treat your legal department or
firm like a business: have the right
metrics and identify, capture and
analyze and report them out in a
meaningful and timely way.
Are you regularly capturing
metrics and reporting on them?
R e a l - t i m e _ R e s p o n s e
We're in the process of setting it up
Yes
45%
18%
No, but we're planning to in the next 12 months
Responses from from LLM, Inc. webinar attendees, Dec. 2016
No, but we're planning to in the next 6 months
27%
9%
?
Straight from the Source:
Where to Collect Metrics
What to Track: Types of Metrics
Internal evaluations
and scorecards
of outside
counsel’s
performanceMatter
management
and budgeting
systems
Feedback from
internal and
external clients
Monthly
reports
Spending reports
and detailed
budget reports
for matters
Budgeting
and
Litigation,
such as
AFAs or
VBBs
Frequency of analysis
Frequency of data gathering
Consider the audience of the
report and collect data
accordingly
Collecting reporting
Rolling data up in a meaningful way
Software/visualization of the data
Report success/failure
Success of process and
how it evolves
Ethics and
Compliance
/ Hotline
Issues
Investigations Firms’
Scorecards
/ Evaluations
Contract
Management
What’s
pertinent
to your
organization
Tying It All Together:
Collecting & Reporting
Iterate on which metrics are being tracked and reported
What are you currently using
to report, display and share
your data?
R e a l - t i m e _ R e s p o n s e
Excel,
PowerPoint,
PDF, etc.
43%
?
Business
intelligence
software
29%
Internal
software
Assess lessons
learned, identify
training
opportunities, make
strategic decisions
Evaluate internal
and external
relationships to
ensure value is
being provided
Inform future
decisions around
RFPs, bids, AFAs,
etc.
Identify what you
want to report on
to ensure you're
collecting the
right data.
14% 14%
We don't
currently report
and display
Next Steps: Taking Action on Data
It’s important to make the data
attractive and easy to read.
If the data is displayed in a
cluttered way, it’s going to
diminish its value because
others can’t interpret it.
Looks Are
Everything
ATTENTION!
You must make sure
that the data is
actionable.
Metrics Are a Can-Do
It is possible to identify the right type
of metrics and capture them in a
consistent, methodical way and report
on them and then centralize all of the
information. It doesn’t require a great
deal of human resources and cost.
Final Thought:
Metrics can show the value
of the legal department to
the company.
To learn more, download LLM, Inc.’s metrics white paper
and watch the webinar on how to make metrics count.
Responses from from LLM, Inc. webinar attendees, Dec. 2016