Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions study reveals extreme legal spend volatility in second LegalVIEW Insights report

Nearly one-third of Corporate Legal Departments saw their legal spend swing up or down 90 percent or more in the last five years

June 24, 2021 — Nearly one-third of corporate legal departments (CLDs) surveyed in a new Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions study reported a remarkable 90 percent or more difference between their lowest and highest annual legal spend amounts since 2016, with 9 percent of those CLDs reporting a difference of three times or more. The data contained in the company’s second LegalVIEW Insights report is the latest in a series of quarterly reports analyzing data from its LegalVIEW Data Warehouse – the world’s most comprehensive legal spend database, which includes information from more than $140 billion in invoices.

The typical change in legal spend was less dramatic but just as crucial for law departments that want to understand how they compare with the overall market. For instance, from 2019-2020, CLDs experienced a median 1 percent decrease in legal spend, and nearly two-thirds of law departments experienced at least some decline. However, the increases that did occur were more significant as 4 percent of CLDs saw legal spend double or almost triple in just one year.

“Legal spend variations are more volatile than most people appreciate, and it is not just because of the pandemic. Our data shows that the past is a good future predictor in the short term, but not necessarily the long term,” said Nathan Cemenska, Director of Legal Operations and Industry Insights for Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions. “In the long run, there is always a risk of significant outside marketplace events that can potentially double or triple the amount of legal work, which is never affordable. However, our analysis also suggests that organizations with more mature legal ops functions – especially in the banking sector – have a better chance at controlling costs even in the most unstable environments.”

Additional highlights from ELM Solutions’ second LegalVIEW Insights report include:

• Despite overall legal spend volatility and the long-term trend of escalating legal costs, many CLDs held their spending flat for one, two or even three consecutive years.
• CLDs showed a 46-60 percent chance of holding legal costs flat for one year and about a 9-18 percent chance of keeping it flat for three years in a row.
• The ability of CLDs to control legal cost changes also varies widely by industry. For example, banks and other financial institutions – although their legal costs can be staggering – as an industry consistently reduced their overall legal spend every year since 2016.
• However, consumer services businesses tended to see costs increase, while manufacturing companies saw no consistent pattern, either up or down.

In conjunction with its LegalVIEW Insights reports, ELM Solutions is producing an ongoing series of LegalVIEW Insights blogs, webinars and other content discussing the emerging trends from the LegalVIEW Data Warehouse. Earlier this year, ELM Solutions released its inaugural LegalView Insights report. It revealed that 90 percent of CLDs reduced their active provider relationships, and 16 percent of attorney-client relationships that existed in 2019 were paused in 2020. Both reports and other associated materials and are available on the LegalVIEW Insights landing page.

ELM Solutions, part of Wolters Kluwer’s Governance, Risk & Compliance division, is the market-leading global provider of enterprise legal spend and matter management, contract lifecycle management and legal analytics solutions. The company provides a comprehensive suite of tools that address the growing needs of corporate legal operations departments to increase operational efficiency and reduce costs. Corporate legal and insurance claims departments trust its innovative technology and end-to-end customer experience to drive world-class business outcomes.

Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions was named a leader in both the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Enterprise Legal Spend Management 2020 Vendor Assessment and IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Enterprise Matter Management 2020 Vendor Assessment. The company’s award-winning products include Passport®, the highest rated ELM solution in the latest Hyperion MarketView Legal Market Intelligence Report and TyMetrix® 360°, the industry’s leading SaaS-based e-billing and matter management solution. CLM Matrix, meanwhile, was named a “strong performer” in The Forrester Wave: Contract Lifecycle Management For All Contracts, Q1 2021 report. ELM Solutions’ LegalVIEW® portfolio of legal analytics solutions is based upon the industry’s largest and most comprehensive legal spend database, with more than $140 billion in invoices.

About Wolters Kluwer Governance, Risk & Compliance

Governance, Risk & Compliance is a division of Wolters Kluwer, which provides legal and banking professionals with solutions to help ensure compliance with ever-changing regulatory and legal obligations, manage risk, increase efficiency, and produce better business outcomes. GRC offers a portfolio of technology-enabled expert services and solutions focused on legal entity compliance, legal operations management, banking product compliance, and banking regulatory compliance.

Wolters Kluwer (AEX: WKL) is a global leader in information services and solutions for professionals in the health, tax and accounting, risk and compliance, finance and legal sectors. Wolters Kluwer reported 2020 annual revenues of €4.6 billion. The company, headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands, serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries and employs 19,200 people worldwide.