Analytics anxiety? Here's the truth - and a guide
Data and metrics can be overwhelming. We’re here to help: The Xakia team has created a field guide to make legal data analytics accessible for Legal Departments of all sizes and lawyer of all backgrounds.
Download our free eBook, In-House Legal Data Analytics for Beginners, and you will be armed with the tools to create your own data program. You will learn how to start collecting your legal department’s data with minimal headaches. You will see how some of your peers have put data to work in their own organizations. And you will receive dozens of ideas for how to make better, more well-informed decisions about your resourcing, budgeting and more.
We have heard the pervasive misconceptions about legal data analytics – worries that a given in-house Legal Department is too small, too busy or not tech-savvy enough to deploy meaningful metrics. It’s time to debunk them. Like the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot or the Chupacabra, legal data myths aren’t real - don’t let them scare you away from exploring the possibilities of a data-driven Legal Department.
Legal data analytics: The hard truth
You don’t need a to have a giant Legal Department to deploy legal data analytics
Granted, a lot of industry buzz centers around the monolithic corporations that have battalions of dedicated legal operations staff. But that’s not reality for most of the in-house bar; according to Altman Weil’s Chief Legal Officer Survey, less than 30 percent of in-house Legal Departments have dedicated full-time administrators or business managers. Sixty percent have no such resource at all.
Regardless of size of team or budget, all in-house legal teams want to provide the best legal services to their organizations in the most efficient and effective manner. There are a number of practical solutions that even a one-lawyer Legal Department can use to boost performance and ROI (and his or her own sanity) – and they start with data.
You don’t need to have a background in data, math, science or engineering
And that’s a good thing: According to the Law School Admission Council, the organization that administers the law school entrance exam in the United States, the five most common degrees for law school applicants include political science, criminal justice, psychology, English and history. No “left brain” disciplines cracked the top 10. Thanks to analytics and legal matter management software like Xakia, the most right-brained among us can access and analyze key information – no advanced degree in statistics required.
You don’t need to find more hours in your already-crammed day
After all, you’re already maxed out: According to the Association of Corporate Counsel, the number of in-house counsel working more than 60 hours a week has risen by more than 50 percent. With a smart approach to legal analytics, the collection and analysis of your metrics will be automatically integrated into your workflow, so you can focus your time and energy on the business – and the data will be there when you need it.
Getting started - download the legal data analytics white paper now
So now you have it: You don’t need a giant Legal Department; you don’t need to have a background in science, math or engineering; and you don’t need to manufacture another batch of hours in your day to get started with data analytics.
At its most meaningful, legal data analytics isn’t about buzzwords like Big Data or synergy or optimization: It’s about improving your performance….and your quality of life. And it works: According to the research firm Gartner, Legal Departments that use analytics to inform their decision-making show higher work quality, reduced litigation cost and lower spending.
Ready to get started? Download In-House Legal Data Analytics for Beginners now.
If you'd like to find out more about Xakia's legal analytics software, book a demo today with the team, or try it out for yourself with a 14-day pilot.