Professional services
Law Firm Capacity Calculator
How many matters a firm can carry, and what revenue that capacity supports.
Result
Business arithmetic for running a practice, not legal advice. Fee agreements, contingency limits, trust accounting and fee splitting are governed by the rules of professional conduct in your jurisdiction, and several of them are strict. Check the applicable rules before any of this affects a client agreement. Capacity at 100% is not a plan. Matters arrive unevenly, deadlines collide, and a firm running at theoretical capacity has no room for an urgent matter or an unwell colleague. Most firms plan against 80% to 85% of this figure.
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About this calculator
Should I staff to full capacity?
No. Leaving no slack means every unexpected matter either gets refused or damages an existing one. Planning to around 85% is common and still demanding.
Why do hours per matter vary so much?
Practice area and complexity dominate. Averaging a portfolio of small matters with a handful of large ones produces a figure that describes neither, so split them if the mix is wide.
The formula
capacity = fee earners x annual target / hours per matter
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