Data plays a central role in law firms today, although you must do more than scratch the surface to see this. We often put the focus on attorney education, knowledge, and experience. We add in paralegal assistance, and the use of expert witnesses. However, when you really get down into the nuts and bolts of law, it’s all about data. In order to be successful in the future, law firms must focus on data analytics.
The Situation Today
Law has always been built on the foundation of data, even though emotion certainly has its place in the courtroom. Laws on the books – those are data. Legal precedents – those are also data. Evidence gathering and discovery, witness interviews, and all the rest really boil down to data that helps you (and the judge and/or jury) connect the dots in the case. Those facts help you tell your client’s story and hopefully, achieve a positive outcome.
The challenge here is that all that data becomes unwieldy, and even backbreaking. How do you sort it? Store it? Make sense of it? The answer is data analytics – a branch of data science concerned with collecting, collating, parsing, and organizing data and then converting raw information into something that can be digested by the human brain.
The Benefits of Data Analytics
There are many benefits to be gained through the application of data analytics within your law firm. One of those is improved speed – AI can sort through reams of information in milliseconds. Advanced technology can also help segregate unrelated information from relevant data, improving the quality of your information.
Another benefit here is that by adopting a data-driven strategy, your law firm is able to make decisions. These decisions can be based on real-time information rather than on sentiment, purely personal experience, or even a “gut feeling”.
The Future of Data Analytics
While data has always played a central role in law firms, look for data analytics to become more and more widespread. This is particularly true as more firms try to leverage big data to make more informed decisions regarding everything from case management to office staffing. More advanced AI algorithms are also being developed that offer increasingly complex capabilities, including decision-making capabilities.
In the end, data is the foundation of your law firm. Data analytics is an invaluable tool that helps you do more with that precious resource and even make more informed decisions.
