For lawyers and legal managers, understand what data science is or data science has become a fundamental element to get the most out of the data that is generated daily in the different areas of the firm (legal, administrative, management of customers, etc.). This with the aim of improving decision-making and designing increasingly effective strategies.
According to the 2020 Wolters Kluwer Future Ready Lawyer study, 72% of lawyers believe that coping with the increasing volume and complexity of information will be one of the top trends affecting their organizations over the next three years. Hence the great importance of understanding what data science is and what it is for within modern firms and in the legal sector in general.
What is data science?
Before answering the question of what data science is, you should know that data is symbols in its pure state (not processed) that encode a message or information in a digital language. This language can only be read and understood by computer analysis systems, not by humans. These systems are responsible for processing and transforming data into information that is readable and understandable by people.
That said, data science (or data science, in English) is a discipline that uses various technologies and methods such as big data analysis and business intelligence to process and analyze the data collected by any organization, with the purpose of detecting patterns. and trends that optimize strategic decision making.
What is data science for?
Currently, there are still many lawyers who wonder what data science is or what data science is for within the legal sector. The truth is that through statistical (typical of jurimetry), analytical, mathematical and computational techniques applied by data science, lawyers today can perform actions that they could not before.
In this sense, what data science is for within legal activity can be reflected in the following applications:
Analyze court cases and predict outcomes
Data science is used to massively and quickly identify all those ongoing cases that could present certain difficulties, as well as those that may be easier. In addition, thanks to data analysis systems that use what is machine learning, it is possible to implement predictive analytics models capable of analyzing the information from a large number of completed trials in order to discover a pattern that allows predicting the results of similar trials in course.
Automate data discovery processes or data discovery
With systems based on data science, hundreds and even millions of documents can be accessed automatically at the same time, to analyze them and extract specific information from them, either to cite specific instances or failures and prepare current cases based on it. very quickly.
Importance of data science
Based on everything explained so far, we can say that the importance of data science for lawyers lies in the possibility of generating in-depth knowledge of any project, and even of the legal business in general and even of competitors and clients. In this sense, by applying data science tools for legal, commercial and managerial decision-making, it is possible to anticipate, prevent or react effectively to those situations that may affect the management of the firm or the result of a legal process.
Also, data science is important within the labor dynamics, since those firms that use data science systems can design very effective strategies to increase the productivity of partners and lawyers, thus improving business profitability.
Data Science Examples
Some examples of data science through legaltech applications are the following:
Lex Machina: is a platform that uses machine learning algorithms to analyze and evaluate opposing judges, courts and lawyers to develop strategies to win and close legal cases.
Cicayda: is a software specialized in eDiscovery, which is responsible for reviewing, searching, analyzing and processing large amounts of digital texts within the legal sector.
Premonition: This platform allows you to collect in-depth information from opposing lawyers, record results in front of a judge, and other key elements to improve the strategic preparation of cases.
In Latin America we have legaltech tools that have powerful data analysis functionalities. This is the case, for example, of TimeBillingX. Although its system is not as complex as other specialized in data science, this software has a business intelligence module to analyze data on the productivity and profitability of both partners, lawyers, and clients.
In this sense, through its analytical functions, intelligent reports can be generated that help to identify which are the most profitable customers and the least profitable ones. So that strategic decisions can be made to improve the firm’s cash flow.
