Workload Forecasting & Diagnostics is the legal department’s radar system - a strategic capability that enables teams to anticipate future demand and understand the underlying causes of workload. It’s not just about predicting volume; it’s about decoding the patterns, triggers, and inefficiencies that drive legal activity.

Legal work rarely arrives randomly. It’s shaped by business cycles, product launches, regulatory changes, seasonal trends, and internal process failures. By analysing historical data, business calendars, and matter trends, legal teams can forecast demand with increasing accuracy - and prepare accordingly.

Diagnostics go deeper. They reveal the “why” behind the work. Is the team drowning in contract reviews because templates are poor? Are compliance queries spiking due to unclear policies? Are litigation volumes rising because of weak dispute resolution clauses? This insight allows legal teams to fix root causes, not just manage symptoms.

Together, forecasting and diagnostics shift legal from reactive firefighting to proactive planning. They enable smarter staffing, better prioritisation, and more strategic engagement with the business. Without this capability, legal teams will always be caught off guard - and transformation will remain out of reach.

The scope of Workload Forecasting & Diagnostics typically includes:

◼️Historical Workload Analysis – Reviewing past matter volumes, types, and timing to identify patterns.

◼️Business Calendar Integration – Aligning legal planning with known business events (e.g., product launches, audits, board cycles).

◼️Demand Driver Identification – Pinpointing the internal and external triggers that generate legal work.

◼️Root Cause Diagnostics – Analysing inefficiencies, policy gaps, and process failures that inflate workload.

◼️Forecast Modelling – Using data to project future demand across legal service categories.

◼️Resource Planning Alignment – Informing staffing, outsourcing, and budgeting decisions.

◼️Stakeholder Engagement – Sharing forecasts with business units to align expectations.

◼️Continuous Refinement – Updating models and diagnostics based on new data and feedback.

In GLS legal ops, the Workload Forecasting & Diagnostics is considered a "Repeater" resource within legal operations.

A Repeater Resource: Supports multiple legal functions, ensuring that structured legal requests improve contracting, dispute resolution, compliance, and advisory services.

A well-structured Workload Forecasting & Diagnostics enhances legal team productivity, reduces wasted time, and improves service delivery across the organization.

The best practice features of the GLP are as follows:

◼️Data-Driven Forecasting – Using historical matter data and business inputs to model future demand.

◼️Integrated Business Planning – Aligning legal forecasts with commercial calendars and strategic initiatives.

◼️Root Cause Analysis Capability – Diagnosing inefficiencies that drive unnecessary legal work.

◼️Visualisation Tools – Dashboards and heatmaps that make workload trends easy to understand.

◼️Scenario Planning – Modelling different demand scenarios to test resource resilience.

◼️Stakeholder Communication – Sharing forecasts with business units to manage expectations.

◼️Feedback Loops – Incorporating real-time data and team insights to refine forecasts.

◼️Linkage to Budgeting & Resourcing – Ensuring forecasts inform spend and staffing decisions.

The Workload Forecasting & Diagnostics station delivers the following value to the Business:

◼️Faster Legal Support – By anticipating demand, legal can staff and prioritise more effectively.

◼️Reduced Risk of Bottlenecks – Forecasting prevents overload and missed deadlines.

◼️Lower Legal Spend – Diagnostics help eliminate unnecessary work and reduce external counsel reliance.

◼️Improved Business Alignment – Legal becomes a proactive partner in business planning.

◼️Enhanced Strategic Agility – Legal can respond faster to emerging risks and opportunities.

Legal teams gain visibility into what’s coming and why. This enables smarter resource allocation, better prioritisation, and more strategic engagement with the business. Diagnostics help reduce unnecessary work, improve processes, and support continuous improvement. The result is a more resilient, efficient, and respected legal function.

The Workload Forecasting & Diagnostics station is essential for:

◼️Legal departments of all sizes

◼️Legal operations teams

◼️General Counsel and Heads of Legal

◼️Legal tech and innovation leads

◼️Compliance and risk management teams

A legal team operating without a Workload Forecasting & Diagnostics capability will face a wide range of inefficiencies including:

◼️Reactive Resource Allocation – Constant firefighting due to unexpected demand spikes.

◼️Poor Prioritisation – Inability to focus on strategic work due to lack of visibility.

◼️Overreliance on External Counsel – Outsourcing becomes the default when internal capacity is overwhelmed.

◼️Stakeholder Frustration – Business units experience delays and inconsistent support.

◼️Missed Improvement Opportunities – Without diagnostics, root causes remain hidden and unresolved.

This station is technology-leveraged. It relies on:

◼️Matter Management Systems – To capture and analyse historical workload data.

◼️Analytics Platforms – For modelling forecasts and visualising trends.

◼️Integration with Business Systems – To align legal planning with commercial calendars.

◼️Dashboards & Reporting Tools – To communicate insights across the organisation.

Legal ops must ensure that data is clean, accessible, and structured to support meaningful forecasting. AI and machine learning can enhance predictive accuracy over time.