It’s safe to say that most of us didn’t pursue a career in law because of our love for data, right?

If we were passionate about data, we’d probably be in a different field altogether.

But here’s the reality check: embracing data is crucial to staying relevant as the legal landscape evolves. It might sound daunting, but once you invest the time to establish processes for collecting and analyzing your data, the payoff can be immense. You’ll uncover opportunities to enhance efficiency, deliver more value to clients, and identify strategies for improving firm profitability. More value and higher profits? Suddenly, data doesn’t seem so intimidating, does it?

Moreover, clients expect you to have a handle on your data. They’re keeping track of the matters you handle for them, so when you claim, “This is specialized work and cannot be compared to anything we’ve done before,” they know better. They have the data to spot trends, inefficiencies, and more. And they wonder why they can track your data when you can’t.

Also, these days, technology can handle your data FOR YOU. So there’s almost no excuse for not knowing how to engage with your data. Yes, there are obviously confidentiality concerns, but technology has and will catch up with those. So if you’re not already dealing with those, why not?

Other industries are already emphasizing “big data,” which means, once again, the legal industry is lagging and missing opportunities to create significant value and modernize our services.

The risks here are twofold:

1. The data gap impedes organizations’ abilities to manage work, mitigate risk, maximize value, enhance decision-making, and proactively respond to trends.
2. Buyers of legal services are becoming increasingly restless, partly due to the stark contrast between how legal services are delivered and the sophistication of technology in other industries.

And uh, we just discussed some of this in our last post, so these risks should have you WORRIED.

So, we need data. But what does that entail?

Here are three key considerations for your firm:

1. Data Strategy: Like any initiative, there must be a strategy behind your data efforts. Identify the data you need to collect at the practice and client level and define how you’ll organize it to meet your goals.
2. Data Analysis: Once you have the data, analyze it to derive meaningful insights. This is where you’ll uncover efficiencies, manage work better, mitigate risks, and more.
3. Data Visualization: Making data accessible is crucial. Lawyers need to understand and interact with meaningful data easily. Sophisticated data visualization plays a key role here, ensuring that data is digestible and actionable.

While this might seem daunting, leveraging experts (and/or technology!) who love data can transform it from a headache into a powerful tool. Committing to acting on the insights your data reveals presents a significant opportunity. Few firms are fully capitalizing on the wealth of data they possess, making now the perfect time to invest in it. Data will soon become a client expectation—wouldn’t you rather be ahead of the curve than scrambling to catch up?