§ 01
The Question Nobody Can Answer
Ask a CRE legal team how long it takes to draft a lease, and you'll get a range: "It depends." On complexity. On property type. On how many rounds of negotiation. What they rarely account for is the true cost of doing it all in Word and Excel.
But when pressed for a number, most teams genuinely don't know. They've never measured it systematically.
We have. From thousands of leases drafted on the LeasePilot platform, here's what we see.
§ 02
The Benchmarks
From usage patterns across our customer base:
| Metric | Industry Average (Manual) | LeasePilot Average | Top Quartile |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Retail Lease | 10-14 hours | 3-4 hours | 2-2.5 hours |
| New Office Lease | 8-12 hours | 2.5-3.5 hours | 1.5-2 hours |
| Industrial Lease | 6-10 hours | 2-3 hours | 1-1.5 hours |
| Amendment | 3-5 hours | 45-90 min | 30-45 min |
| Renewal | 4-6 hours | 1-2 hours | 45-75 min |
These numbers measure time from deal terms to first draft, before negotiation begins.
§ 03
Where the Time Actually Goes
When we break down the drafting process, a clear pattern emerges:
Legal Judgment: 15-25% of Total Time
Clause selection based on deal terms. Credit assessment informing security provisions. Risk evaluation for non-standard requests.
This is the work that requires a law degree. It's irreducible.
Mechanical Work: 75-85% of Total Time
- Template hunting and setup: 10-15%
- Data entry and propagation: 20-30%
- Calculations (rent, TI, escalations): 15-20%, work that shouldn't require a law degree
- Formatting and cleanup: 10-15%
- Cross-referencing and consistency checks: 10-15%
§ 04
The Implication
The teams that draft fastest aren't making faster legal decisions. They're eliminating mechanical work.
When a system handles data entry, calculations, and formatting, the attorney's time goes entirely to judgment, the 15-25% that actually requires expertise.
§ 05
What "Fast" Looks Like in Practice
A top-performing team drafting a standard retail lease:
- Deal terms entered (5 minutes). Tenant info, property, rent structure, key dates
- Clause selections made (10-15 minutes). The attorney selects credit-appropriate provisions and property-specific language from their own encoded options
- System generates draft (instant). Complete lease with calculated schedules
- Attorney reviews output (15-20 minutes). Verify selections, check for deal-specific needs
- First draft sent (total: 30-40 minutes)
The attorney spent 25-35 minutes on judgment. The system handled everything else.
§ 06
Why This Matters Beyond Efficiency
Speed isn't just about cost savings. It's about:
Deal velocity: Landlords who deliver drafts in 48 hours set the first-draft advantage. Those who take two weeks signal disorganization.
Attorney satisfaction: Lawyers didn't go to law school to format rent schedules. Removing mechanical work lets them do actual legal work.
Capacity without headcount: A three-attorney team producing what used to require five or six. Customer landlords on the platform have grown lease volume 170% with zero additional hires.
The question isn't whether your team is "fast enough." It's whether they're spending their time on work that requires their expertise, or on work a system should handle.