The modern in-house legal department is at a critical juncture, pressured to transition from a cost center to a verifiable strategic partner of the business. ACC and Everlaw's survey of 284 chief legal officers and legal operations professionals reveals a significant metrics gap hindering this change. While a commanding 83 percent prioritize tracking outside counsel spend, few are consistently measuring metrics that reflect true business impact. This disparity traps legal teams in a reactive, cost-control role, preventing them from demonstrating their full strategic value in areas like risk mitigation and growth. The next evolution of legal metrics demands a crucial shift from cost focus to value focus.
Generative AI (GenAI) is the breakthrough technology set to close this gap. Nearly all respondents (96 percent) agree that GenAI can help them better prove their strategic value to the business, driving 69 percent of departments to prioritize it for future value tracking and reporting. GenAI allows legal to move from retrospective cost data to proactive management.
Key Findings
1. Many legal leaders believe GenAI will help them demonstrate business value
Legal leaders overwhelmingly believe GenAI will help them move past being viewed as a cost center. They see its primary benefit as speed, but also value its potential for budget forecasting, cost savings identification, and gaining strategic insights from data.
2. Efficiency and automation are the most common GenAI entry points, but advanced applications lag
While 76 percent see GenAI improving internal efficiency for routine tasks, adoption for advanced, data-driven metrics (like time-to-resolution) lags significantly. Despite barriers like budget and data security, 69 percent prioritize GenAI for metrics and reporting.
3. Despite a desire to demonstrate business value, most legal teams fail to track outcome-based metrics, citing lack of infrastructure
Most legal teams track only basic cost metrics, but fail to track outcome-oriented indicators (like outcomes relative to cost). A lack of robust infrastructure means departments do not have the historical data needed to fully leverage GenAI and prove strategic value.
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