A Call For Measuring Quality in Legal Services

By Ron Dolin, Research Fellow, Stanford Law School

I was at a gathering a while back that happened to include the General Counsel of a Fortune 100 company. I asked him if he measured ROI on his legal spend. “No,” he said, “I can’t.” Why not? “I can’t measure quality.”

I suspect, though, that he meant “I can’t measure quality yet.” ROI means measuring return, and return requires estimating value. Value is defined as the level of quality in the context of its cost. Therefore, measuring quality is key.

One way for corporate counsel to understand how to do this is ...