2022 Legal Budgeting Strategy Amid Ongoing Uncertainty | Axiom Law Blog

A 7-Step Playbook for Agility-Based Budgeting

“Our legal budgets were slashed in 2021. We expected that. But, our legal budgets have been slashed again for 2022. We have more work than we’ve ever had. It’s the most trying time to be a GC I’ve ever experienced in my long career.”
GC of Fortune 500 firm

Legal departments are experiencing unprecedented budget pressures due to COVID-19 (made worse by the ongoing uncertainty posed by the Delta variant) as well as other macroeconomic and industry-specific forces. As we enter the 2022 budgeting season, General Counsels can effectively use the budget-building process to reexamine where and how they spend to navigate uncertainty and derive increased value from their legal spending.

The 2022 planning cycle represents an optimal time to shift dollars away from fixed costs toward more variable spend to effectively mitigate against budget reductions, volume spikes, and unanticipated legal matters.

We’ve created report offering a playbook for GCs to leverage new budgeting models to reduce fixed costs and improve legal outcomes. You’ll learn how to implement a modern model for your budget planning – Agility-Based Budgeting (ABB) – and how you can execute it through our seven steps to transition legal’s largest line items from fixed to flexible.

The full report covers:

Different Legal Departments, Universal Pain Points
Doing more with much less
Accessing expertise around emerging risks

How Legal Departments Are Addressing Pain Points: An Imperfect Response
The problem with hiring full-time employees (FTEs) to address emerging risks and improve cost efficiency

The Legal Budget-Building Process: A Potential Tool for Minimizing Pain
Current models: Precedent-Based Budgeting (PBB) & Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB)

A More Modern Model: Agility-Based Budgeting (ABB)
A new legal budget model for a new normal
How ABB reduces fixed costs and minimizes GC pain points

The Playbook: 7 Steps for Implementing ABB in 2022
Using the 2022 budget process to variabilize the legal department cost base
7 steps to transition legal’s largest line items from fixed to flexible 

To substantially move the agility needle, GCs must budget accordingly, shifting a greater percentage of their spend toward high-quality, cost-effective, flexible legal talent. Download our white paper today to learn more about the ABB model and the seven steps to building a better budget for your 2022 plans.