SA.global and Briefing insight: Why law firms lose more revenue than CFOs realise
Briefing and sa.global are conducting a year-long research program with UK law firm CFOs, tracking where revenue leakage occurs across onboarding, matter management, invoicing, and collection. Independent findings published by Briefing Live each quarter. sa.global point-of-view series published alongside.
View onboarding findings here
“The process feels acceptable. The data it produces is not trusted to carry the weight of what comes next.”
Onboarding research · sa.global x Briefing CFO Research Program 2026
Every stage of the lifecycle compounds on the one before it.
Onboarding sets the commercial foundation. Matter management tests whether it holds. Invoicing reveals how much value survives to the client. Collection delivers the final verdict. The research tracks all four stages in sequence across 2026, building a legal finance benchmarking picture of where UK law firms gain or lose financial performance.
Read more about the sa.global report here
Most onboarding write-offs are never traced back to where they started.
The research covered onboarding performance, speed to first billable hour, law firm revenue leakage, write-off visibility, commercial terms clarity, and billing data confidence. The findings reveal a consistent gap between how CFOs perceive onboarding performance and what the underlying data shows.
The onboarding findings are drawn from 30 C-level finance leaders at UK law firms with headcounts above 250, surveyed by Briefing in early 2026. Responses are anonymous and reported in aggregate. The research was conducted independently; sa.global had no involvement in question design, fielding, or data collection.
Read more from sa.global on the efficiency in onboarding here
