Law Firm Metrics – Be Careful What You Wish For
We’ve been thinking a lot about metrics lately, and in particular, we keep hearing this question: “What metrics should I be measuring in my law firm?”
Traditionally, law firms measure hours – and not much else. Of course, if you’ve spent any time around here, you know that’s not our jam.
But in the absence of hours, what’s the standard?
The answer will be different for everyone, but the key is the same across the board: measure what you want more of.
(Has anyone ever told you to be careful what you wish for? That adage applies in the world of metrics, too – you get more of whatever you measure, so be careful what you measure!)
We lawyers tend to be very motivated to get the gold star – so whatever we set as the metric we’re measuring, we’re likely to deliver a lot of it. That’s one of the reasons why hourly billing is so toxic for our profession. Tell us we need to bill 8 hours a day, and we’ll give you 9, regardless of the cost to our health and families and fun.
The good news is that, if you’re the owner of your own firm, you get to choose your own metrics, and gamify yourself and your team to deliver more of what you want from your firm.
That might mean measuring things like:
- Client experience (NPS score)
- Team experience (employee NPS score) – including your own experience!
- Profit margin / owner benefit
- Vacation days or days without work outside your preferred hours
- Client work “points” delivered
- Meetings with potential clients who fit your ideal client profile
- Events attended where attendees are great referral sources
It starts with doing the work to get clear on what results you want your firm to create. From there, work your way back upstream, to identify the key actions that drive those results. You don’t need to measure every single action that contributes to a particular result – just look for one that stands out.
Track that action, set a challenging, but achievable goal for it, and then report on how you do. If you’re a solo, find someone to be an accountability buddy and put peer pressure to work for you. I’d be willing to bet you’ll pretty quickly start seeing results.
We’d love to hear what metrics you’re measuring in your firm, and how you’re using metrics to support your PROmance – the firm you love, that loves you back.
Here’s to Measuring What Matters!
Whitney