""A lot of firms, not Biglaw but many others, just work and do not know how to run their business. They do not even know what a KPI is. They do not know what data to measure and track," Miles explained. "I want to give them guidance about how to run their operations more successfully, knowing what to focus on and what is important.""
"Litigators track case duration, win rates, and cost per matter. In-house commercial lawyers should be tracking contract cycle time, the frequency with which certain clauses are negotiated, the percentage of deals that deviate from standard templates, the time it takes to secure stakeholder approvals, and whether the company complies with obligations after signature. These metrics form a business health check for the contracting process, revealing patterns that no amount of anecdotal observation can match."
Many in-house legal teams lack visibility into their contract portfolios and cannot answer basic operational questions such as average turnaround time, clauses that generate most redlines, or frequency of deviations from standard positions. Measuring key performance indicators brings discipline and operational clarity to contracting. Relevant KPIs include contract cycle time, clause negotiation frequency, percentage of deals deviating from templates, time to obtain stakeholder approvals, and post-signature compliance. Quantitative metrics reveal recurring bottlenecks and prioritize fixes—for example, identifying an indemnity clause that consistently extends negotiations and prompting reassessment of fallback positions. Tracking KPIs converts anecdote into actionable business insight.
Read at Above the Law
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