Legal Department Reporting Template
Three documents and three sheets that split each matter type's cycle time into legal's own hours against the counterparty's turnaround, then price the headcount gap.
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Cycle Time by Matter Type · Thornbury Systems Inc. legal department · Q1 2026
An elapsed-days number cannot say who caused the wait. The ratio can.
Every matter type carries two figures here: the elapsed time from intake to completion, and the attorney hours actually spent on it. Divide one by the other and you get the cycle time ratio, the share of the wait that is actually legal's own work.
| Matter type | Elapsed | Legal's active hours | Ratio | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NDA | 2 business days | 0.5h | 3.1% | Almost all counterparty turnaround |
| Employment matter | 6 business days | 17h | 35.4% | Legal is the bottleneck |
Same report, opposite answer, and only one row justifies a new hire
NDAs and employment matters can sit on the same generic days-to-close report looking like two ordinary rows. The ratio says a new attorney would not touch the NDA number at all, and would cut directly into the employment matter number, which is exactly the distinction a department-wide average erases.
Most legal department reports state a median days-to-close and call it cycle time. CLOC's own metrics framework defines cycle time as a ratio instead: time taken to do the work against time taken to return the work, measured from receiving instructions to completing them. That ratio, not the elapsed days alone, is what tells you whether a matter took eight days because a signature took eight days to come back, or because an attorney was working it the whole time. Only one of those two matters gets faster if you add a lawyer.
Split every matter type's active hours from its elapsed time and the two rarely move together. NDAs in this pack's worked example close in two days with half an hour of legal work, a 3.1% ratio; employment matters close in six days with seventeen hours, a 35.4% ratio. Summed only across the high-ratio types, the hours gap becomes a headcount case scoped to one queue, not a department-wide plea. A peer benchmark like the 2026 ACC Law Department Management Benchmarking Report's 367-employees-per-lawyer median is useful context. It does not say which queue to staff.
The same overflow that produces a high ratio on one matter type usually already shows up as an outside counsel spend line. In the worked example the numbers reconcile: employment matter overflow run-rates to $168,600 a year, a 91% offset against a $185,000 fully loaded hire. Client intake decides what enters the pipeline, and the per-matter budget prices it once open. This report rolls those same matters up for whoever funds the department, alongside the deadlines already running against them and the guidelines that outside spend itself has to satisfy.
What's in the pack
Cycle Time by Matter Type
Every matter type's elapsed time and legal's own active hours, converted to the same unit and divided into the ratio that shows who caused the wait.
Matter Volume by Type
This quarter's and last quarter's volume by matter type, with the change, so a reader sees what actually grew before reading the hours behind it.
Outside Counsel Spend by Firm
Spend by firm and matter type with the quarter-over-quarter change, so an overflow line can be checked against the in-house ratio for the same matter type.
Report Narrative
The version written for the business audience this report actually goes to, leading with the recommendation rather than working up to it.
Spend Analysis Note
The firm-by-firm detail behind the spend total, with a named cause for every meaningful change rather than one blended trend line.
Legal Operations Dashboard
The one-page live view pulling every figure from the sheets themselves, so the dashboard and the underlying data cannot silently disagree.
How to use it
- 1
Open in River, or take it blank
Open the pack in River and hand it this quarter's matter list, time records and outside counsel invoices, or download the Word documents and CSV sheets from the template library and run it yourself.
- 2
Record active hours next to elapsed time, not instead of it
A median days-to-close alone cannot say whether legal caused the wait. Both figures, converted to the same unit, are what the ratio needs.
- 3
Sum demand only across the high-ratio matter types
A department-wide average hides exactly the variation that says where a new hire would actually help.
- 4
Check the spend sheet for an offset before asking for budget
An outside counsel overflow line on the same matter type turns a headcount ask into a cost-neutral one.
Frequently asked questions
Is this template free?
Yes, no account or card required. The download is Word documents and CSV sheets in a zip. Edit with AI is the second half: the agent builds the volume and cycle time record from your own matter data and drafts the narrative around it.
What am I actually downloading?
Three Word documents and three CSV sheets, zipped. The sheets open in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets straight off the download, and the narrative and spend note open in Word or Pages. Nothing in the zip needs River to be useful.
What does the cycle time ratio actually mean?
The share of a matter's elapsed time that is legal's own active work, rather than a counterparty's or a business stakeholder's turnaround. A low ratio means the wait is mostly out of legal's hands. A high ratio means legal's own work is the largest share of the clock, and is where added headcount actually helps.
We don't track time by matter type. Can we still use this?
Yes. Where exact time entries don't exist, estimate the active hours per matter type and flag the figure as an estimate rather than presenting it with false precision. The ratio is directionally useful even from a rough estimate, and gets more precise as real time entries accumulate.
Why exclude litigation from the headcount math?
Because matters fully handled by outside counsel generate no in-house active hours to measure. Their volume still belongs on the volume sheet and their spend still belongs on the spend sheet; they are excluded only from the ratio and the hours-based headcount calculation.
How does this fit with the other legal packs?
Intake decides what enters the pipeline, and the per-matter budget prices each one once open. This report rolls those same matters up by type for a business audience, and the same billing narrative discipline that gets an invoice paid is what makes the active-hours figure behind the ratio trustworthy in the first place.
Report the ratio, not just the average
Take the Word documents and CSV sheets blank, or open this exact pack in River and hand it this quarter's matter list and invoices.
Edit with AI