Sarah Irwin
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📊 How to Leverage Data like a Pro as First Legal Hire

📊 How to Leverage Data like a Pro as First Legal Hire

1 min. read

Sarah Irwin
January 04, 2025

Here’s what I learned about leveraging data as the first legal hire at a fast-scaling tech company:

Data is the love language of business. And leveraging it as a lawyer (traditionally known for our love of words) is a hugely powerful tactic when you're first legal hire.

❇️ It’s your ally for boosting efficiency, impact, AND street cred.
❇️ Collaborating with stakeholders will help you figure out how to capture the right insights.

At a scale up, contracts are king when it comes to the bulk of your legal work as they directly relate to helping the business generate revenue and grow faster.

And while you know you're flat out working late to smash through redlines, sadly that is not obvious to the wider business.

The answer is to track data and report on it to leadership to SHOW how well the legal team is doing and aligned with company (revenue) goals.

Here are some key metrics to get you started:

What paper is being used (yours or 3rd party?)
Number of turns
Turnaround time
Legal stage close-out time
DPA Issues
EOQ Engagement

PRO TIPS 🎯

No data team? No problem! Start by manually tracking basic data in Excel until you can invest in specialised tools.
If you’re swamped, use an ALSP contractor to gather this data and even turn it into visuals with tools like Canva. (which I love using!)

REMEMBER: Data isn’t just numbers - it’s the proof of your team’s efficiency and impact.

Make it work for you! 🫵

I cover all of these points in depth (& more!) in my latest YouTube video series 👇🏻

🍿 Check out my brand new YouTube channel HERE if you want even more tips and tricks.

🤝 Get my step-by-step guide on building a lean, well liked, future fit legal team here.

Many thanks to today’s sponsor!

SpotDraft can solve your contracting problems. Check out their website here and request a demo here.

What I’m Up To This Month

Join us for a webinar on choosing the right CLM tool, avoiding selection pitfalls, and leveraging AI effectively for in-house legal teams.

🔗 Register here!

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by Sarah Irwin

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