At a recent gathering of the profession, while bemoaning the lack of demand for legal services, the pathetic state of the economy and begrudging the increasing power of clients, one discussion centered around metrics – financial and performance-oriented measures.  While we are all familiar with the usual billable hour, collections, matter profitability, and so forth, this discussion provoked me to think about some of the more unfamiliar and unorthodox, but vital metrics that I believe law firm management should be looking at.  After all, it wasn’t that long ago that the late father of modern management, Peter Drucker, reminded us all that “ if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”

Here are a few unusual metrics that I think are worth taking a look at in your firm . . .