5 key legal department KPIs that improve corporate legal team outcomes

As legal departments evolve into more strategic business partners, measuring performance is no longer optional. While tracking a wide array of legal department metrics provides valuable insights into legal activity, not all metrics are created equal. 

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are metrics that have a goal or target. They’re meant to reflect how well the legal department is performing against objectives that matter to your business. When chosen thoughtfully and tracked consistently, KPIs don’t just report performance—they help improve it. In other words, KPIs help legal leaders steer the team toward specific goals that align with broader business outcomes.

Remember: Align KPIs with business objectives

Start with a simple question: What is the business trying to achieve this year?

Legal KPIs shouldn’t exist in a vacuum. They’re only valuable if they reflect and support the company’s broader priorities. A legal department in a business focused on minimizing risk will measure different things than one driving international expansion or scaling a new product. That’s why your KPIs should evolve alongside organizational goals.

Here are a few common areas where legal KPIs can make a direct, measurable contribution:

Impact on revenue generation

Legal is often seen as a cost center, but many legal projects directly drive revenue, playing a pivotal role in enabling business growth. Tracking the department’s impact on revenue gives legal leaders the data to prove that role—and earn a stronger voice in strategic decisions.

Legal's role in financial growth

Legal teams increasingly influence financial outcomes—whether through favorable contract negotiations, IP protection, M&A execution, or cost avoidance. By tracking and sharing these contributions, legal can demonstrate its impact beyond traditional compliance or defense roles.

Compliance as a business enabler

Achieving compliance doesn’t just reduce risk—it unlocks opportunity. Whether it’s GDPR, SOC 2, or sector-specific regulations, compliance often opens doors to new markets or customer segments. When legal helps the business check those boxes efficiently, it’s enabling growth and building trust.

The bottom line: KPIs are strategic alignment tools that clarify priorities, justify investments, and position the legal department as a proactive business partner.

Top 5 in-house legal department KPIs

1. Number of revenue-generating matters, per period

Why it matters

Corporate legal teams have long struggled to make their contributions to revenue visible. But the truth is, legal often plays a critical role in getting deals closed, products launched, and partnerships secured. Tracking the number of revenue-generating matters turns this implicit value into explicit data.

Whether it’s accelerating a sales contract, enabling a new product launch, protecting IP, or driving M&A, these are activities where legal directly influences the top line. Quantifying them creates a clear line between legal work and business growth.

How to measure

Create a system where every new matter is tagged as revenue-generating or not. This can be done using a modern legal intake and workflow tool. Include obvious revenue-driving work like sales and marketing contracts, but also broader efforts like product advisory, commercial licensing, and compliance work that supports market expansion. Track the volume and proportion of these matters relative to overall legal activity. For most organizations, a significant percentage of legal work supports revenue in some way—it just hasn’t been systematically recorded.

Outcome it improves

This KPI strengthens legal’s position as a business partner. It helps secure resources by showing impact on the top line, clarifies where the team’s energy is best spent, and counters outdated perceptions of legal as a blocker. It’s also a powerful tool for prioritization—if a matter isn’t tied to revenue or high risk, why is it eating up bandwidth?

2. Legal spend as a percentage of revenue

Why it matters

Legal departments are under pressure to manage costs, but cost-cutting in isolation misses the point. The real opportunity is to connect spending to value creation. By tracking legal spend as a percentage of company revenue, leaders can benchmark efficiency, demonstrate fiscal responsibility, and advocate for smart investment. Rather than focusing solely on whether legal is over or under budget, it ties spend to revenue performance—a framing that resonates with CFOs and CEOs alike.

How to measure

Calculate total legal spend (internal and external) for a given time period, and divide it by the company’s total revenue for the same period. For more granular insights, break down spend by matter type—for example, commercial, litigation, employment, etc. A quarterly cadence helps reveal trends and inform strategic planning.

You can also layer this KPI with others, like cost savings or ROI on specific legal initiatives (e.g., enforcement actions or favorable settlements), to tell a richer story about value delivery.

Outcome it improves

This KPI provides clarity in budget discussions and a foundation for more strategic resourcing. It supports the case for investing in technology or hiring by showing where spending is correlated with business enablement. It also shifts internal conversations from “how much are we spending?” to “what value are we getting for that spend?”

3. Internal vs. external legal spend ratio

Why it matters

The balance between in-house work and outside counsel is one of the most controllable levers in a legal department’s cost structure. Yet many teams don’t track this metric consistently—or miss the bigger picture when they do.

Outsourcing legal work makes sense in some scenarios, but too much reliance on outside counsel can erode budgets and stall agility. Understanding the balance between internal and external spend helps legal leaders refine their sourcing strategy and scale internal capabilities where it matters most.

How to measure

Divide total internal spend (salaries, benefits, technology) by total external spend (law firm fees, consultants, ALSPs). Calculate the ratio and watch how it shifts over time. But don’t view the ratio in isolation—look at it alongside total legal spend and external rate trends.

For example, say your internal/external split remains 50/50 over two years. A flat 50/50 split might seem balanced, but if your total legal budget doubles, your costs could be spiraling. That’s a signal to dig deeper and assess efficiency.

Outcome it improves

This KPI gives leadership a clearer picture of where dollars are going—and whether those choices are delivering results. It can reveal whether outside counsel is being used efficiently or if internal resourcing could deliver similar outcomes at a lower cost. Over time, it can shape a more sustainable, scalable legal function.

4. Time spent “waiting on” per matter

Why it matters

Legal teams often get blamed for being slow, but that perception isn’t always grounded in data. Measuring how long a matter sits idle—specifically, “waiting on someone”—helps identify true bottlenecks. Is it stuck with legal? Or is it sales, compliance, or another stakeholder?

How to measure

Track the average time a matter spends in a “waiting on” state, ideally broken down by department and matter type. Legal workflow automation tools can streamline this tracking. Review monthly or quarterly to spot patterns—especially spikes in certain areas or prolonged delays on key deal types.

Outcome it improves

This KPI provides a clearer view of turnaround times and helps legal challenge assumptions with facts. It also supports workflow improvements, better collaboration with other departments, and faster service delivery. Most importantly, it elevates legal’s reputation as a responsive, transparent partner, flipping the narrative that legal is a "black box" or blocker.

5. Resolution of high-risk matters

Why it matters

Not all matters carry equal weight. High-risk issues—those with financial, reputational, or regulatory implications—demand more attention. Tracking how effectively and quickly your team resolves these matters signals strong risk management and helps align legal focus with business stakes.

How to measure

Assign a risk score or tier to each matter based on agreed criteria: financial exposure, brand impact, likelihood of escalation, and regulatory complexity, for example. Then track resolution time, team allocation, and percentage of overall matters that are high-risk. Review quarterly to evaluate trends and resourcing.

Outcome it improves

This KPI ensures the legal team is focused where it counts. It demonstrates proactive risk mitigation, supports prioritization, and builds confidence with executive stakeholders. It can also be used to fine-tune staffing models and training efforts, making sure the right people are handling the most critical work.

How to get started with legal KPI tracking

Today’s in-house legal teams want to be more strategic. KPIs help get you there by connecting day-to-day work with business impact. But tracking them shouldn’t be a burden.

Start with the basics. Identify a few key indicators, set clear definitions, and commit to consistent tracking. Modern legal data analytics platforms like Streamline AI make it easier by automating intake, workflows, and reporting—so you can spend less time pulling data and more time making decisions.

Want to go deeper into legal data and analytics? Check out our guide for in-house counsel to learn how to build a smarter legal department with better visibility, alignment, and impact.