Tag: legal ops software

Measure Legal Department KPIs with These 4 Hacks

Posted on November 24, 2025 by - Legal Operations

legal department KPIs and hacks to measure them

Let’s be honest: if you’re not measuring your legal department KPIs, you’re flying blind. The modern legal team is expected to prove their value, support the business’s strategy, and ruthlessly optimize legal spend management. If you aren’t there yet, you’re overdue for a change.

Stuck in spreadsheet hell? You’re not alone, but you’re also not going to win the future that way. Legal reporting best practices and technology can take you from manual chaos to automated clarity. The best part? You don’t need a massive analytics platform to crush your KPIs. Start with structure, consistency, and the four hacks below to unlock performance data that actually matters.

1. Legal department KPIs are your leverage

Legal department KPIs aren’t just pretty numbers for a slide deck. They’re your narrative. They tell leadership exactly how your team impacts the bottom line and why you should have a seat at the decision-making table. This aligns with broader business guidance on performance measurement, like Harvard Business School Online’s breakdown of how effective KPI structures drive organizational decision-making. Quantified, strategic, and focused: that’s how forward-thinking legal leaders play the game.

Even if you’re building from scratch, laser in on high-impact metrics: efficiency, risk reduction, alignment with business goals. This isn’t an optional exercise. It’s your ticket to credibility.

Still tracking data privacy costs manually and watching them climb? There’s your smoking gun. Use those insights to push for process changes, justify training, or argue for in-house moves that slash outside counsel spend. Strong legal department KPIs tell a story the C-suite can’t ignore.

legal reporting data

2. Cut the fluff: Choose legal department KPIs that actually matter

Let’s talk results. Your legal KPIs must expose the link between legal effort and business value. Ditch vanity metrics and focus on what drives decisions.

Start with these proven performers for both legal spend management and operational rigor:

  • Actual spend by month: Own your budget, find burn points, and spotlight cost control.
  • Total hours billed: Reveal capacity constraints and dependency on outside counsel.
  • Discounts, adjustments, alternative fee arrangements: Show you don’t just spend. You negotiate and save.
  • Number of contracts executed: Measure how legal accelerates (or blocks) deals.
  • Matters resolved and time per matter: Find choke points, boost efficiency, and rebalance workloads.

If you’ve got access to AI-native analytics or enterprise legal management tools, level up:

  • Top matters by attorney hours and rate: Pinpoint where you’re leaking money or over-allocating talent.
  • In-house vs. outside counsel workload: Stop outsourcing what you should be running internally and vice versa.
  • Line-item spend breakdowns: Kill off travel drains, admin bloat, and research inefficiencies.

Reporting on these KPIs isn’t about making leadership happy. It’s about controlling your narrative, driving legal reporting best practices, and putting yourself in the driver’s seat for strategic initiatives.

Pro tip: Modern legal ops solutions automate dashboards and reporting, letting you focus on strategy instead of spreadsheet migraines.

legal operations strategy - use legal department KPIs to get more time back

Quantitative KPIs: Don’t guess, prove it

Dig deep into your data. Your in-house timesheets and coded invoices hold gold if you know how to mine it. Build your legal spend management story from the numbers, not just gut feelings.

Track reductions and overruns by line item. Follow the money. Compare workloads and costs across practice areas over time. Trends don’t lie, so use them to predict, pivot, and persuade.

Qualitative KPIs: Influence beyond the numbers

Some of your impact is beyond the spreadsheet. Smart legal reporting best practices mean capturing qualitative wins too. Did negotiating a high-stakes deal save the company millions? Shout it out.

Ask your business partners for honest feedback. Are they waiting too long for support? Do they feel legal is a strategic enabler or a stubborn bottleneck? Build internal surveys and measure what matters, not just what’s easy to count.

3. Ditch the data dumpster: Build smart records around legal department KPIs

Your KPIs are only as good as your data hygiene. Step up your legal reporting best practices:

  • Tag invoices precisely. If it doesn’t drive a KPI, why track it?
  • Train your squad on the critical fields. Everyone must play by the same data rules.
  • Standardize formats for ease, speed, and auditability.
  • Stay compliant. The regulators will thank you, plus you’ll sleep better at night.

If the company demands ruthless efficiency, your systems and reporting must make cost savings unmistakably clear. Legal department KPIs are your ammunition. Organize them, defend them, and use them to drive real change.

4. Track legal department KPIs the modern way, or get left behind

Let’s face it. Spreadsheets are a stopgap, not a solution. They’re better than nothing, but if you want to bring the heat, automation and real-time dashboards are your best friends.

Pull all your legal department KPIs, legal spend management data, and performance metrics into one simple view for leadership. No more scrambling before the next quarterly report. Let cloud tools and visualization software do the grunt work so you can focus on results.

When you’re ready to stop living in the stone age, migrate to an AI-native solution. Let automation run the numbers, surface trends instantly, and produce dashboards executives actually want to read. The future of legal reporting best practices is real-time, interactive, and smart.

legal ops software - your legal tech stack matters

With the right tech, your team can:

  • Build automated dashboards that make spend, matter cycles, and vendor performance instantly visible.
  • Slice KPI reports by team, region, or matter type with ease.
  • Share insights in seconds, not days or weeks.

Time to upgrade or be outpaced

A basic spreadsheet works until it doesn’t, then you need a legal ops platform that automates data management and reporting. Modern legal analytics tools are purpose-built for legal department KPIs. Get dashboards you can trust, share insights on autopilot, and keep leadership looped in with zero manual hassle.

Ready to wield real influence? Sharpen your KPIs and build a truly data confident legal department by checking out our guide, Math of Legal Ops: Numbers, Process, and People Driving the Bottom Line.

It breaks down the real mechanics behind legal performance, spend control, and operational impact, and shows why manual math has no place in modern legal ops.

Click here to download the guide.

What You Need to Know About Legal Matter Management Software

Posted on November 13, 2025 by - Matter Management

legal matter management software

Legal matter management software gives legal ops a central hub to track every matter, budget, document, and vendor decision in one place. It replaces spreadsheets and manual updates with real-time visibility, helping teams control spend, reduce risk, and forecast with confidence.

Project management has become one of the most strategic responsibilities for legal operations teams. Legal matters are often their largest, most complex projects — with countless moving parts, multiple vendors, and budget pressures that demand precise tracking and visibility.

Mastering matter management is now the foundation of effective legal operations and spend control. Legal departments that manage matters with data-driven tools save an average of 12–18% in legal spend, according to recent industry benchmarks. The ability to analyze matter data across firms, practice areas, and timekeepers transforms legal work from reactive to proactive — turning information into measurable ROI.

This guide covers the essentials of legal matter management in 2025 — and how modern legal management software helps teams centralize data, automate workflows, and make smarter financial decisions.

What is legal matter management?

Legal matter management is the process of organizing, tracking, and analyzing all matters handled by your legal department — both in-house and with outside counsel.

It’s more comprehensive than traditional case management, which focuses on individual cases and documents. Matter management encompasses all related data: budgets, timekeepers, invoices, risks, key contacts, and outcomes.

It provides a single operational view across all work, giving legal teams and finance shared visibility into cost, performance, and progress.

legal teams dealing with legal matter management

Creating legal matter records

Every matter begins with a structured record — a centralized place to track who’s involved, what’s being done, and how much it costs.

A standard matter record should include:

  • Matter title and ID
  • Date opened and current status
  • Practice area(s)
  • Budget and spend-to-date
  • Assigned counsel (in-house and external)
  • Support staff and invoice approvers

For litigation, add plaintiff/defendant details, jurisdiction, and judge information. For contracts, include counterparty, contract type, and risk level.

Consistent formatting is key to maintaining data integrity and accurate reporting.

Establishing and maintaining budgets

Accurate matter records enable smarter forecasting. By analyzing spend by matter type, practice area, or vendor, legal ops can set realistic budgets and prevent cost overruns.

To maintain control:

  • Use historical analytics to estimate future matter costs
  • Enforce outside counsel billing guidelines
  • Require timely invoice and accrual submissions
  • Standardize invoice formats and approval workflows

Well-structured budgets eliminate surprises and strengthen collaboration with finance. The more granular your matter data, the more confidently you can predict spend and allocate resources.

Tracking and updating legal matters

Keeping matter data current is critical for operational accuracy. It’s also important for creating effective reports for the GC. Updates should include:

  • New or revised documents
  • Received invoices and payments
  • Budget adjustments
  • Staffing changes
  • Upcoming deadlines or milestones

Real-time visibility ensures that reports and dashboards reflect the most recent information — especially for executive briefings or accrual forecasts.

Reporting on legal matters

Matter reporting gives leadership a clear view of department performance. With objective metrics — such as matter lifecycle time, spend by firm, or variance from budget — legal teams can identify cost drivers, improve vendor management, and demonstrate ROI.

These insights support stronger collaboration between legal, finance, and the C-suite. They help explain where money goes, justify budget requests, and provide transparency around outside counsel efficiency.

Three ways legal management software solves matter management challenges

Even well-organized legal teams encounter inefficiencies when managing hundreds of matters manually. Modern matter management software addresses these pain points with automation, integration, and analytics.

1. Centralizes data into a single source of truth

A digital platform consolidates all matter data — budgets, invoices, and communications — into one system. Legal and finance can access the same information instantly, improving collaboration and accuracy.

Integrations with tools like Power BI, Tableau, and document management systems further reduce manual work and eliminate data silos.

2. Reduces manual work through automation

Automation eliminates repetitive legal management tasks such as data entry, document tagging, and budget tracking. Features like matter templates, smart search, and OCR (optical character recognition) simplify workflows and make information instantly searchable.

This not only saves time but also improves job satisfaction — a critical factor as legal ops teams face increasing workloads with limited headcount.

3. Provides real-time insight into spend and performance

With up-to-date data feeding dashboards automatically, teams can spot cost overruns, track matter progress, and measure outside counsel performance. Instead of retroactive reporting, they can take proactive action — reallocating budgets, enforcing guidelines, or adjusting staffing based on live data.

End-to-end legal management platforms transform reporting from an administrative task into a strategic advantage.

manual legal process - legal matter management software can help

Why effective matter management proves the value of legal ops

Strong matter management doesn’t just save time — it demonstrates legal’s impact on the business. By uniting people, process, and technology, legal operations can manage spend strategically, enforce compliance automatically, and surface insights that support executive decisions.

For more resources on optimizing your legal operations, request a demo of Onit’s legal matter management solution to see how modern legal departments are transforming matter management.

Your legal intake process is costing you time and here’s how to fix it

Posted on October 24, 2025 by - Legal Operations

Your legal intake process is costing you time

If your legal intake process lives in your inbox, it’s already costing you time, credibility, and control.

Modern legal teams need more than email threads and spreadsheets to keep up. They need a smarter, structured way to manage requests from the start. Every vague “quick question” or one-line email from the business creates hidden friction. Before you know it, your team is buried in requests, half-tracked approvals, and missing context that slows everything else down.

For many legal departments, this is just how work happens. It’s the status quo. But when your legal intake process chaos becomes the norm, you stop operating strategically. You’re reacting, not prioritizing. The real cost isn’t just time, it’s credibility. And that’s not something you want to lose.

So let’s talk about what’s actually slowing your team down and how to fix it.

Image that says loading, representing a slow legal intake process

A poor legal intake process equals lost time, lost context, lost visibility

Manual legal intake probably feels simple. People send requests, you respond, things move forward. But behind the scenes, those small inefficiencies compound fast.

When service requests come through scattered channels like email, chat, or hallway conversations, it’s nearly impossible to see what’s in the pipeline or who’s handling what. Critical details get lost. Work gets duplicated. Business partners feel like they’re waiting in line without updates.

And for legal ops leaders, that means no visibility into metrics that matter: request volume, turnaround times, or workload distribution. Without data, it’s hard to justify budget, identify bottlenecks, or even show how much the team is handling day to day.

A modern legal service request (LSR) system fixes that by replacing the patchwork with something standardized, automated, and trackable.

How modern legal ops software transforms legal intake

Modern legal ops software is built to take the busywork out of intake. Instead of managing dozens of requests scattered across inboxes, it centralizes everything in one digital workspace that connects directly to enterprise legal management systems.

That means:

  • Fewer missed details. Requesters complete guided intake forms that capture the right information every time.
  • Faster routing. Requests are automatically assigned based on category, matter type, or workload.
  • Smarter prioritization. Dashboards show what’s pending, urgent, or overdue without relying on manual tracking.
  • Better visibility. Leaders can instantly see volume trends, turnaround times, and performance metrics.

Legal ops teams using LSR tools to modernize their legal intake process tend to move faster because the system handles the flow. The technology doesn’t just collect requests, it gives you control over how work comes in, moves through, and gets completed.

legal professional falling down around his work stuff, showing chaos from his legal intake issues

Signs your intake process is holding you back

You don’t need to overhaul everything at once to modernize. But you should pay attention to early warning signs that your current legal intake process is costing you efficiency.

If any of these sound familiar, it’s time to take a closer look:

  • You spend hours each week triaging requests instead of managing outcomes.
  • Your team constantly follows up to clarify missing details.
  • Work requests pile up without a clear way to track or prioritize them.
  • You can’t quantify how much work comes through intake or how quickly it gets done.

When your legal intake process feels like it’s grounded in guesswork, that’s your cue. Modernizing doesn’t just save time; it strengthens your department’s foundation. It helps you work on your terms, not your inbox’s.

From inbox chaos to legal intake clarity

A legal service request system is more than a tool, it’s a shift in how legal teams operate. It builds discipline into your process without adding friction. It shows business partners exactly how to engage with legal. And it gives your team the data to work smarter and prove value.

The result is faster response times, clearer accountability, and a department that looks organized and proactive, not reactive and overextended.

legal ops professionals that are happy and using a modern LSR system

Your legal intake process doesn’t have to drain your time or your team’s energy. With the right system, it can finally work the way you do.

See how modern legal intake actually works

If you’re unsure where to start, Onit’s Legal Service Request Checklist is a quick way to assess where your current intake process might be slowing you down. It highlights key areas to evaluate before you modernize.

Ready to find out how Onit’s AI-native legal service request system eliminates bottlenecks and helps legal work faster? Talk to one of our experts today.

Modern Legal Ops Software vs. Legacy ELM: One Drives Legal Forward, the Other Holds You Back 

Posted on July 11, 2025 by - Artificial Intelligence, Legal Operations

Modern Legal Ops Software vs. Legacy ELM: One Drives Legal Forward, the Other Holds You Back

Modern legal ops software isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s the difference between keeping pace and falling behind. Legal teams today are buried under increasing demands to move faster, control spend, reduce risk, and deliver measurable value to the business. But too many are still stuck using outdated dinosaur systems that are molasses-slow and create more work than they solve.  

But the world has changed. And your software should too. 

The Evolution of Legal Ops Software 

Legal operations has matured into a critical function that supports everything from risk management to vendor oversight to spend optimization. What once required spreadsheets and emails is now managed through dedicated platforms. 

But not all platforms are created equal. Older tools often fall short in key areas: 

  • Limited connectivity across departments and enterprise systems 
  • Rigid workflows that cannot adapt to evolving legal processes 
  • Outdated interfaces that hinder adoption and user engagement 
  • Minimal automation and little embedded intelligence 
  • Siloed functionality due to years of bolt-on acquisitions 

For years, enterprise legal teams relied on traditional ELM tools. But those systems are showing their age, and Onit is changing the game.  

This shift has made the case for modern legal ops software stronger than ever. Additionally, as some mid-market platforms get absorbed into legacy stacks, their innovation slows, roadmaps stall, and legal teams are left waiting.  

If your software only documents legal work, it’s already behind. Forward-thinking teams demand more. They expect speed, clarity, and real impact. 

Whether you’re a three-person team or a global legal department, the right legal ops software grows with you and adapts to whatever comes next. 

Legacy ELM: Familiar Foundations, But Growing Friction 

We’ll be honest, legacy legal ops software had its moment. It brought order to chaos when spreadsheets ruled legal ops. But those wins? They’ve become friction. The platforms are rigid and outdated. And dressed-up design doesn’t fix what’s broken underneath. 

Most legacy legal ops tools were never designed for AI, automation, or real-time data. They create silos instead of streamlining collaboration. 

The interfaces are antiquated and clunky. Instead of helping teams move faster, these platforms slow everything down. 

And as demands on legal teams grow, that friction only increases. If your team is spending more time managing the system than getting work done, then it’s not a platform, it’s a problem.  

AI-powered solutions for legal ops exist for a reason. They’re built to replace all of this. 

How Legacy Systems Stall Legal Operations 

Legacy legal ops systems were built to bring order to legal work, but today they often create bottlenecks that slow progress. Whether it’s processing invoices, pulling reports, or updating workflows, tasks that should take minutes often take days (or weeks!). 

Here’s how legacy systems typically hold teams back: 

  • Data is fragmented. Teams must dig through disconnected systems to get a full picture of legal spend or matter status 
  • Workflows are rigid. Making process changes requires technical resources, vendor support, or both 
  • Reporting is slow and disconnected. Teams still export spreadsheets and cobble together outdated views instead of acting on live data. 
  • Collaboration is difficult. Finance, procurement, and legal often work in silos, leading to misalignment and duplicated effort 

An AI-powered legal ops solution eliminates these issues by unifying data, streamlining collaboration, and making critical processes faster and easier to manage. It removes friction from day-to-day operations so legal teams can focus on delivering business value, not managing tools. 

Modern Legal Ops Software: Built for Today’s Teams 

Modern legal ops software isn’t just easier to use. It’s built to help legal teams lead. No more clunky interfaces, no more waiting on IT, and no more systems that slow you down when everything around you is speeding up. 

The best platforms feel intuitive from day one. They don’t just digitize your workflow. They improve it. AI handles the busywork like invoice review and guideline compliance so your team can stay focused on higher-impact work. Updates are fast. Reporting is real time. The software fits how your team works, not the other way around. 

And when it’s time to scale, you won’t outgrow it. Whether you’re a three-person team or a global legal department, the right legal ops software grows with you and adapts to whatever comes next. 

This goes beyond better software. It’s a better way to run legal. 

Image representing a legal team considering modern legal ops software

What Legal Teams Need Today

Companies now hold legal teams to the same standards as departments like finance and sales, but legal often lacks the automation, analytics, and infrastructure to keep up.

AI-native legal software changes that. It transforms legal from a reactive cost center into a proactive business driver.  

Here’s what legal teams can (and should) expect when they make the switch: 

  • Answers in seconds, not hours. Built-in AI surfaces key insights instantly without digging through spreadsheets or waiting on IT 
  • Smart workflows that reduce manual effort. Configurable logic automates routing, triage, and task assignments
  • Invoice review that enforces your policies. AI catches billing violations before they hit your team, removing manual review queues and human error 
  • A platform that gets smarter over time. AI continuously analyzes how your team works and fine-tunes processes for greater speed and efficiency. 
  • Scales with intelligence, not added headcount. AI-native solutions grow with your team by automating what legacy tools outsource, without inflated service costs or slow timelines 

This is not traditional automation dressed up with buzzwords. Legal ops software designed from the ground up ultimately deliver speeds, accuracy, and strategic impact. And that’s what legal teams want and need.

Legacy ELM vs. Today’s Legal Ops Tech Choice 

Legacy ELM Smarter Legal Tech 
Outdated user interfaces that slow teams down Clean, intuitive design that legal teams actually use 
Long, complex implementation timelines Quick deployment with minimal lift from IT 
Disconnected tools that don’t speak to each other A simplified experience for managing spend, matters, contracts, and vendors 
Basic automation that still requires manual cleanup AI-powered automation that handles the heavy lifting 
Configuration changes that depend on IT or consultants Easily configurable workflows with no code required 
Unclear or stagnant product roadmaps Transparent, customer-informed product development 

Making the Case for Change 

Switching from a legacy tool to modern legal ops software is a strategic decision. Many teams hesitate due to long-standing contracts or internal dependencies. But increasingly, the costs of standing still — inefficiency, missed insights, and user frustration — outweigh the challenges of change. The longer teams delay, the more money slips through the cracks. 

Legal teams are choosing to move forward for a reason. They want to operate as strategic partners to the business. They need data to drive faster, smarter decisions. They’re done with bottlenecks and overhead. And they want tools that actually scale with them, not against them. 

Next-generation legal operations tools are not just replacements. They’re accelerators. 

A laptop with a sprout, representing growth and change for legal teams

Implementing Scalable Legal Tech Solutions Without the Headaches 

Modern legal ops software is designed for quick, low-stress implementation. Cloud-based delivery removes installation barriers, and configuration happens through intuitive tools rather than complex code. 

Legal teams can customize workflows to match their processes without relying on IT. Onboarding is guided and streamlined, helping teams see value faster. 

With clean interfaces and simplified workflows, adoption feels natural. The transition is not disruptive. It’s a faster path to better operations. 

The Bottom Line on Legal Ops Software

It’s true: Legacy systems helped legal departments digitize. But modern legal ops software helps them optimize. 

This shift is not about chasing trends. But it is about enabling your team to do its best work with tools that meet you where you are and grow with you.  

If your platform is slowing you down, it’s time to consider one designed for the pace and precision your legal team needs.  

Book a demo to see how Onit empowers legal teams with AI-native software, so you can stop settling and start scaling on your terms. 

Want a quick gut check on where your legal ops stack stands? Download our Legal Ops Checklist to find out if your tech is keeping up or holding you back.