Cost Forecasting, Resource Allocation & Risk Modelling - A Guide for Lawyers

Introduction

Legal teams today face increasing pressure to forecast costs, allocate resources efficiently, and assess financial exposures across litigation, regulatory investigations, contracts and advisory work.

This new interactive virtual classroom seminar is designed specifically for lawyers, in-house counsel and compliance teams. It will equip you with simple yet powerful modelling techniques - using familiar Excel-style tools - without requiring any coding skills.

On completion of this session, you will be able to:

• Build cost forecasts for legal matters using structured methods
• Model resource needs for cases, deals, investigations and advisory work
• Quantify legal risk using scenario analysis and probability models
• Communicate cost projections to GCs, CFOs, boards and clients
• Improve budgeting, pricing and client cost transparency
• Use analytical tools to support litigation strategy and settlement decisions

What You Will Learn

This live and interactive session will cover the following:

• Why Lawyers Need Forecasting and Risk Modelling
• Shift toward fixed-fee and value-based billing
• Expectations from clients for transparent cost estimates
• Why legal risk must be quantified, not just described qualitatively
• How modelling reduces disputes and budget overruns
• Foundations of Cost Modelling for Legal Work
• The three pillars of cost modelling - time, resources, risk
• Types of legal costs - direct, indirect, contingent, sunk
• Identifying cost drivers - case complexity, document volume, timelines, number of witnesses, regulatory interactions
• Key tools - cost curves, burn-rate analysis, cost-per-stage models
• Building Cost Forecasts in Practice
• Top-down vs. bottom-up modelling
• Estimating time requirements by matter phase
• Using historical data to ‘triangulate’ forecasts
• Adjusting forecasts for delays, increased scope or regulatory surprises
• Resource Modelling for Legal Teams
• Forecasting staffing needs for litigation, deals, and compliance cycles
• Allocating partners, associates, paralegals, experts
• Resource utilisation rates (billable and non-billable)
• Modelling bottlenecks - document review, disclosure, external counsel costs
• Capacity planning for busy periods
• Risk Modelling Techniques for Lawyers
• Quantifying legal risk - probability, impact
• When to use scenario analysis vs. decision trees
• Using Monte Carlo-style thinking
• Financial exposures in disputes, compliance failures and contract breaches
• Reservoir of legal risks - litigation, regulatory action, data breaches, contractual failure
• Communicating Forecasts and Risks to Stakeholders
• Presenting numbers to GCs, CFOs and boards
• Visualising cost estimates: funnel charts, bar charts, timelines
• Avoiding common mistakes
• Showing uncertainty without causing alarm
• Drafting risk-informed legal recommendations

Recording of live sessions: Soon after the Learn Live session has taken place you will be able to go back and access the recording - should you wish to revisit the material discussed.