Legal operations leaders from Expedia and Heineken recently joined Ironclad’s General Counsel Jasmine Singh for an in-depth discussion on how legal teams can demonstrate strategic value through metrics and data. The panelists shared practical frameworks for tracking meaningful metrics across commercial contracts, procurement, and operational efficiency, while exploring how to translate legal work into the language of business outcomes. Here are a few key takeaways from their conversation.
Key takeaways
- Legal metrics must tell a story in the language of the business. The most effective metrics go beyond tracking volume and cycle time—they demonstrate concrete business impact in terms executives understand: revenue acceleration, risk mitigation, cost avoidance, and productivity gains. Legal teams that can quantify their value in dollars and days earn strategic influence and the resources they need to scale.
- Start with the end goal, then work backwards to identify metrics. Before collecting data, define what story you want to tell and to whom. Are you demonstrating how legal accelerates revenue? Reduces enterprise risk? Enables market entry? Once you know your narrative, you can identify the specific metrics needed to support it—and avoid drowning in irrelevant data.
- Scale legal impact by removing legal from the equation. The most sophisticated legal teams track “no-touch” and “low-touch” contract rates—measuring how many deals close without requiring legal review. By leveraging standardized templates, playbooks, and automated workflows, teams can dramatically increase contract velocity while freeing lawyers to focus on high-complexity, high-value work.
- Baseline data is essential for proving transformation. Teams that tracked metrics before implementing a CLM can demonstrate dramatic improvements in cycle time, resource allocation, and cost savings. Even without historical data, tracking incremental improvements over time builds a compelling narrative of continuous optimization and strategic value creation.
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Ironclad is not a law firm, and this post does not constitute or contain legal advice. To evaluate the accuracy, sufficiency, or reliability of the ideas and guidance reflected here, or the applicability of these materials to your business, you should consult with a licensed attorney. Use of and access to any of the resources contained within Ironclad’s site do not create an attorney-client relationship between the user and Ironclad.
