Tracking and acting on these metrics can make a massive difference not just to a legal team’s performance, but to the business itself. However, the uncomfortable truth is that most legal teams are a long way from building that sophisticated understanding of their data.
Broadly speaking, the market divides into three. In the first group, some legal departments still think everything’s fine. They’re firm in their belief that they’re professionals, they know what they’re doing, the nature of their work is hard to predict and the C-suite will just have to live with it.
In the middle group are the legal professionals who find themselves in that frustrating place where they know they need to do something, but they’re not sure where to start. This group, along with those who are starting to explore and try the basics, is by far the biggest group.
The final group are the early adopters: those departments that are seizing the initiative, managing the change, and making sure it’s ingrained in the philosophy and DNA of the attorneys. That might be because they’re innovators and leading the charge themselves, or it might be because the demand from the business for actionable insight is high and non-negotiable.
Whatever their motivation, this is the group with the best decision-making ability, the best understanding of its own efficiency, and the biggest potential to truly add value to the business as a genuine strategic partner. By starting at the beginning and building data from the ground up, every legal department can join them – they just need to start somewhere.
This is a chapter from our Modern Contract Handbook, featuring insights from expert authors on every stage of the contract process. Download the guide in full here.