Why redefining success metrics is a must for modern legal leaders

In short:

• To remain competitive, law firms need to prioritise responsive outcomes over rigid time-based billing.
• Firms should invest in legal tools that help teams track and articulate credible metrics, such as turnaround times, automation usage, or stakeholder satisfaction.
• Changing success metrics can help firms to switch from being a cost centre to an enabler of growth.

Redefining success metrics will help law firms build trust and ensure there is a strong and ongoing role for legal services in an AI future, writes Demetrio Zema.

I have been saying it for years – the billable hour is dead.

At Law Squared, we have never charged by the hour, and we never will. From day one, I have been convinced that the traditional time-based billing model does not serve lawyers or clients. It rewards inefficiency, undermines trust and contributes to a culture of burnout that has become all too common across the legal profession.

In an AI-powered world, traditional legal metrics such as headcount, legal spending and billable hours are not merely dated but obsolete. Success today is not about how much time is spent on inputs; it is about the strategic impact legal can make by enabling growth, reducing friction and helping organisations navigate complexity with confidence.

Below, I explore what future-fit legal metrics should look like, both for in-house teams and law firms.

In-house: From gatekeepers to enablers

In-house legal teams have traditionally defined success in terms of risk avoidance and compliance. While these remain vital tasks, the real opportunity for legal lies in becoming enablers of growth. To do so, teams must focus on measuring outputs that align with broader business objectives, not just legal inputs.

New metrics that can help general counsel and their teams make this shift include:

• contract turnaround times – how quickly can legal move from matters to signature?
• number of revisions or pushbacks – are we producing fair, balanced contracts that enable negotiations and drive negotiated benefits?
• speed to market – how effectively are we enabling new products or expansion into new markets?
• risk-exposure mapping – are we identifying, surfacing and addressing risks before they escalate?
• proportion of automated workflows vs manual engagement – where are we reducing bottlenecks through technology and where is human involvement still essential?

The benefits of this shift from gatekeeper to growth enabler are clear:

• improved contract efficiency builds trust across the business
• proactive risk management avoids costly disputes
• empowering business units creates a culture of partnership, not policing
• adoption of technology accelerates commercial outcomes while reducing human error.

By reframing legal’s value proposition, GCs can demonstrate a tangible link between their team’s work and the business’s ability to innovate, expand and compete.

Law firms: From billable hours to business outcomes

The billable hour has always been an inadequate proxy for value; but in an AI-driven world it is harder to ignore the simple fact that time spent simply does not equal outcomes achieved.

Our firm’s fixed-fee model demands that we scope carefully, price based on value and complexity, and deliver on what we say. It is a model designed for outcomes, not inputs, and by its nature ensures we align our success with our clients.

The market is clearly moving in our direction, albeit slowly. Latest research confirms that 91% of companies now use fixed fees at least some of the time and clients want pricing models that reflect value, not hours. The use of AI makes this shift not only logical but necessary. It is a transition supported not only by clients, but also by a new generation of lawyers.

For non-legal functions such as marketing and sales, customer centricity has been the catchcry for decades. As in-house legal teams evolve to measure ROI beyond mere compliance, law firms must finally align with this thinking. To remain competitive, firms also need to adopt a customer-centric approach, prioritising responsive outcomes over rigid time-based billing. This transition will be key to evolving from service providers to trusted business partners who deliver tangible value to their clients and create safer workplaces for their own lawyers.

Forward-thinking firms are already reshaping their metrics to focus on:

• contact turnaround time – responsiveness matters more than hours spent
• matter resolution speed – how quickly are we moving disputes or transactions to completion?
• automation adoption and utilisation – are we leveraging technology to increase efficiency?
• number of internal drafts or revisions – a sign of collaboration and clarity, not churn
• client satisfaction metrics (e.g., Net Promoter Score) – do our clients feel supported and confident?
• cross-team referrals and collaborations – are we providing holistic solutions, rather than siloed advice?

These measures not only reflect the way clients want their legal work to be done (technology-enabled and outcomes-focused) but also position law firms as proactive partners in their clients’ success.

Aligning legal metrics with business metrics

Ultimately, businesses do not measure success by hours spent, they measure by revenue, market share, customer satisfaction and innovation. Legal teams, whether in-house or private practice, should be no different.

Instead of asking, ‘How much time did legal spend?’, the question should be: ‘What did legal enable?’ Did we help the business enter a new market faster? Did we reduce the number of disputes? Did we streamline a process so teams could focus on customers, rather than contracts?

Communicating these outcomes effectively is as important as achieving them in the first place. Investing in legal tools that help teams track and articulate credible metrics – such as turnaround times, automation usage, or stakeholder satisfaction – provides C-level executives with clear evidence of legal’s contribution to growth. By speaking the same language as the business, legal earns a seat at the table as a driver of growth, not just a cost centre.

Looking ahead

In-house teams and law firms have a choice to make; cling to outdated metrics that reward inefficiency, or embrace new measures that reflect real business impact.

As legal leaders, the decision should be clear. By redefining success metrics, we can reposition legal from a cost centre to a proactive enabler of growth. This is not only how we build trust, but how we ensure a role for legal in an AI future.

Demetrio Zema is the founder and CEO of Law Squared. Since launching in 2016, he has led the firm’s expansion across Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, building its reputation for human-centred, outcomes-focused legal services. In 2025, Demetrio also founded Cubed by Law Squared, a Microsoft 365-native legal intake, matter and contract-management solution for in-house legal teams, and Tetra Claims, a tech-enabled third-party administration (TPA) business for global and local underwriters, brokers and corporates managing Australian risk.

www.lawsquared.co