The Data-Driven Law Firm: The Next Frontier

The notion of harnessing the power of data is not a new one. Pundits across sectors have been touting the utility of big data and artificial intelligence for more than a decade. Yet few companies — in any industry — have been able to truly transform data into competitive advantage. The primary obstacle? A noteworthy 93% of companies reported people and process are standing in their way, according to a NewVantage survey of C-suite executives as reported in Harvard Business Review.

These results are not especially surprising. Getting people to think and act differently is a daunting task. The wealth of available data has grown exponentially in the past decade. People's abilities to synthesize and apply data, however, has not. (Prompting a McKinsey Global Institute report to denote this analytical capability as growing in value as the value of data declines.) This dynamic is especially true in law firms. Lawyers themselves, though analytical, are rarely trained in how to interpret and apply data to the business of law. Trained analysts, even in Big Law, are rarer than the elusive tax-paying billionaire. Compound this absence of analytical capabilities with historically hierarchical structures, a shortage of business acumen and cultures where years of experience outweighs almost any other factor (including data) and most law firms are, decidedly, the antithesis of data-driven organizations.