Legal Metrics Masterclass: The Numbers Every GC Should Track

General counsel aren’t just lawyers anymore; they have to run a department. And that means diving deep into the numbers. Vincent Chuang, General Counsel at UpGuard and Chris Young, General Counsel at Ironclad, recently sat down to discuss the critical metrics GCs should track and exactly what trends to look for. The session was a treasure trove of actionable insights for any legal department looking to drive efficiency and prove its value by leveraging data. Here are a few takeaways from their conversation.

• Metrics are just as important in legal. Legal departments, like other business units, need to leverage metrics to gauge their success and demonstrate their value to the business. Chris Young emphasized that at the executive level, every department relies on data and metrics to report and measure their achievements. For legal teams, metrics such as the number of contracts or tasks handled, the proportion of deals requiring legal involvement, and the workload per deal can help legal leaders demonstrate their value to the business. For a deeper dive into the metrics that Vincent tracks for his commercial contracting team, check out his blog post.
• Metrics provide context. Metrics are a way to provide body and context to discussions that you’re having with stakeholders. If you’re talking upwards towards your executive team or towards the CEO, you want to be able to prove how you’re providing value with respect to revenue. If you’re talking to cross functional stakeholders like your sales or marketing team, focus more on the efficiency and operational pieces. For example: “Hey sales team, if you can help us do X, this metric will move and that will reflect our ability to get deals done faster.”
• Use tools to unlock your contract data. There are plenty of metrics you can start tracking today without any tools. However, manually tracking legal metrics can be very labor-intensive. Adopting a CLM will remove a lot of the manual lift of capturing your contract data. These tools can not only automate the tracking process, they can also help identify common friction points in agreements, allowing teams to make necessary adjustments and streamline their processes.
• Track your legal team’s workload. Besides improving efficiency, tracking metrics also plays a vital role in managing the workload and wellbeing of legal team members. Both Vincent and Chris stressed the importance of monitoring team involvement and workloads to ensure a balanced distribution of tasks. This practice helps prevent burnout, ensuring that team members take necessary breaks and receive the support they need to maintain their effectiveness and health.

Interested in seeing how Ironclad’s reporting and insights features can help you unlock your contract data? Talk to one of our digital contracting specialists and get a custom demo.