Make More Data-Driven Decisions at Your Law Firm

Effectively leveraging key data metrics is fundamental to the enduring viability of your firm, and doing so requires the collection and analysis of data. With thoughtful planning and the right resources, your legal practice can do both, making data a cornerstone of your law firm decision-making strategy. 

Internal Data 

Internal data takes a deep dive into the inner workings of your law practice, as well as how those processes and procedures affect your firm’s revenue. This includes information such as: 

• Accounts receivable data – Information that measures the number and value of overdue invoices at any given time. 
• Realization rates – Compares the number of completed client conversions to the number of existing viable leads. 
• Legal client intake data – This analysis provides valuable legal marketing insight into the follow up times between a prospect’s initial outreach to your firm and their receipt of a follow-up communication.  
• Utilization rates – Compares the number of daily hours spent completing billable and nonbillable tasks. 

Without detailed knowledge of what is happening inside of your law firm, you cannot accurately analyze important metrics. Your firm loses out on the benefits of informed decision making when identifying cost-saving measures, forecasting growth prospects, and optimizing firm operations.  

Internal data analysis also enables you to pinpoint bottlenecks with your law firm. For instance, if leads are not progressing through the sales funnel in a timely manner, internal data analysis can uncover the underlying reasons and provide insights on corrective actions. These are the types of inefficiencies that impede firm growth and profitability, so it’s essential to keep these metrics top of mind when making law firm decisions. Internal data helps you meet that need.  

External Data 

Your law firm is a revenue-generating business at its core. That means that external factors, such as consumer trends and industry changes, can influence firm profitability and growth. External data analysis facilitates the examination of these so you can make informed decisions about your law firm marketing strategies, client offerings, and billing rates.  

External data may take a bit more time to gather, but the resulting insight is worth the effort. Consider these options:   

• Subscribe to legal industry resources, like the ABA Journal, to stay informed about trends.  
• Join and participate in professional groups, such as the ABA practice area groups. These organizations consistently provide their members with external data insights.   
• Periodically review business databases that forecast consumer spending trends. 
• Have a dedicated online content expert who can tailor your law firm marketing content for maximum Search Engine Optimization (SEO) according to high performing search terms.  

Using Data to Make Law Firm Decisions 

Now that you know the ins and outs of gathering law firm data, let’s talk about implementing it into important legal practice decisions. Law firm growth opportunities are often identified by the analysis of data. These revelations may occur as a passing observation that the firm is taking on more personal injury cases or through practice area data analytics that show a rise in mass tort case inquiries.  

Data analysis aids in forecasting future trends and opportunities, empowering you to make informed projections about the trajectory of incoming matters and practice areas, whether they indicate promise or decline. These insights offer invaluable feedback to data-driven law firm decisions. Use them as guideposts for charting the course of your firm’s future growth. 

But law firm data is not only useful for future decisions. It should also be part of your daily decision making. As a data-driven law firm, use these numbers to assess internal performance in real time. Identify current problems and address them immediately before they grow into larger issues.  

Law firm marketing is another area where the value of data analytics shines. Data analysis helps you efficiently allocate your law firm’s precious time and talent resources. With comprehensive datasets, you can evaluate which marketing strategies provide the greatest ROI and make data-driven decisions about areas where marketing efforts can be enhanced.   

Consider the client intake process as an illustration. Client Relationship Management (CRM) software for law firms is a must for effectively handling law firm client intake. The right platform provides your firm with a plethora of valuable data sets that can be leveraged to streamline tasks across every stage of client intake and conversion. Your legal practice can optimize the entire legal client intake process for increased efficiency, accuracy, and growth. 

Legal CRM for Data-Driven Law Firm Decisions 

With data-driven decision making, you can help your law firm enhance its competitiveness, deliver superior client service, optimize resource allocation, monitor performance, and adapt to evolving legal industry conditions. Law Ruler CRM software offers the features you need to harness the power of law firm data. Schedule a demo to speak to a product specialist and learn more about Law Ruler’s data analytics features.