Employ the Galileo Mindset to Discover $59M in Annual Legal Value

To understand their value, in-house legal teams might adopt a data scientist mentality and embrace the same disciplined approach used by other major corporate functions.

А quick internet search for “value in legal departments” is an act akin to generating white noise. Every article, outlet and columnist offer their own definition, study, or survey, each straining to defend their blend of quantitative benchmarks and qualitative excuses for why some things are impossible to measure in legal. The consistent signals in the noise are that:

in-house teams are being called to demonstrate their value and efficiency to the business, and
in-house teams are struggling to quantify and articulate that value.

To understand their value, in-house legal teams might adopt a data scientist mentality and embrace the same disciplined approach used by other major corporate functions. To quote Galileo, “Measure what is measurable, and make measurable that which is not.” Some metrics can be directly assessed. Others can be inferred. Still more can be understood only as trends over time.

Through the shared language of data, legal can articulate and increase its value in specific, quantified terms. To do so, we’ve applied a Galileo mindset to value assessments and identified three primary drivers through which value can be articulated and increased: cost reduction, revenue generation, and performance improvement.

Read the full article here to learn more about where $59M in annual value is hiding, primary drivers of legal value, and three steps to shape a data-driven legal team.

Originally published in Corporate Counsel, October 5, 2022.