Future Lawyers Speak Data

INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE OF LAW PRACTICE
FUTURE LAWYERS SPEAK DATA
Presenter: Jae Um / @jaesunum
Founder & Executive Director
05.18.2018
$##

my perspective
Copyright © 2018 Six Parsecs LLC. All rights reserved.
@jaesunum

DATA IS
STORY

COMPLICATED
ECOSYSTEM
+
ACCELERATED PACE
OF CHANGE
=
TRANSLATION
BURDEN
PARTNERS
ASSOCIATES
STAFF ATTORNEYS
CONTRACT ATTORNEYS
PARALEGALS
ANALYSTS
PROJECT MANAGERS
PROCESS ENGINEERS
TECH SOLUTIONS
“THE CLIENT”“THE FIRM”
“STAFF”
FINANCE / HR / IT
MARKETING
PUBLIC RELATIONS
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
BIZ/MARKET INTELLIGENCE
PRICING & PROFITABILITY
GC / CLO
DEPUTY / AGC
COUNSEL
EE RELATIONS
CONTRACTS
LEGAL OPS
PARALEGALS
“THE BUSINESS”
THE END USERS?
THE END BUYERS?
????!!!
“IT DEPENDS”
VISIBLE LEGAL SERVICES MARKET
@jaesunum

Lawyers speak the language of
words. Business people speak
the language of numbers.
“
Kristen Cook
In-house counsel @ 7-Eleven / 2018 ACC Value Champion
@jaesunum

CRITICALLY
IMPORTANT
NOT AT ALL
IMPORTANT
@jaesunum

@jaesunum

DATA IS
STORY
TOOLS
WORDS
PICTURES
NUMBERS
AIM
USEFUL &
MEANINGFUL
TO PEOPLE

What makes this good?
FALLEN OF WORLD WAR 2
WORDS + PICTURES + NUMBERS
@jaesunum

LOOK & FEEL
LOOK → FEEL
WHAT “DESIGN”
USED TO MEAN
NOW DESIGN
PERMEATES ALL
@jaesunum

FEELING
OUT IDEAS
FEELING
TOGETHER
FEELING AS
LANGUAGE
SKETCHES MEMES EMOJIS
VISUALS HAVE DEEPER / MURKIER RESONANCE
@jaesunum

DECLARATIVE
EXPLORATORY
CONCEPTUAL DATA-DRIVEN
Generate relevant questions
about things that matter
Prioritize function over form
GENERATE USEFUL INSIGHTS TO
HELP YOU & YOUR ORG GET SMARTER
EXPLAIN & INFORM OTHERS
IT’S YOUR JOB TO GET & HOLD ATTENTION
Focus on ideas not design
But keep UX in mind
Make it as clean as possible
@jaesunum
Source: Good Charts

DECLARATIVE & CONCEPTUAL
Staple of business theory & management consulting
@jaesunum

Essentially, all models are
wrong, but some are useful.
“
George Box
Statistician
@jaesunum

DECLARATIVE
EXPLORATORY
CONCEPTUAL DATA-DRIVEN
Generate relevant questions
about things that matter
Prioritize function over form
Focus on ideas not design
But keep UX in mind
Make it as clean as possible
@jaesunum
Source: Good Charts

ABELA’S HIERARCHY
OF CHART TYPES
NOT PERFECT /COMPREHENSIVE
BUT HELPFUL STARTING POINT
Source: Good Charts
EXPLORATORY
& DATA-DRIVEN

“BEST” DATAVIZ ≠ THE ONE RING
Altman Weil has been asking this pair of questions to both
Chief Legal Officers & Law Firm Managing Partners since 2012

DESIGN IS ABOUT CHOICE
EDITORIAL DECISIONS ARE UNAVOIDABLE
1. TRUE INSIGHT DEMANDS AN OPINIONATED POV
2. THE ANALYST MUST SIMPLIFY & DISTILL TO CREATE
MEANING WITHOUT MISREPRESENTATION
3. THIS REQUIRES CONFIDENCE AND CONTENT
UNDERSTANDING, SO DOMAIN EXPERTISE IS A MUST
@jaesunum

ONE DATA SET, THREE TREATMENTS
RELATED BUT DISTINCT INSIGHTS
01 02 03DISTRIBUTION
(& COMPARISON)
COMPARISON COMPOSITION OVER TIME
(& COMPARISON)
Same question,
different respondents
Related questions,
same respondent
Related questions,
both respondents
POV: Law firms
Insight: Value gap in industry
POV: Inside counsel
Insight: Clients actually don’t ask
POV: Holistic analysis
Insights: Law firms aren’t crazy
BAR HISTOGRAM
+ COLORS AND
ANIMATION
LINE CHART
+ COLORS AND
LABELED MARKERS
STACKED AREA CHART
+ COLORS AND
LABELED MARKERS
@jaesunum

©2015 Seyfarth Shaw LLP | 22
how serious are law firms?
about providing greater value to clients
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Firms say… But clients say…
“not at all serious” “doing everything they can”
Source: Altman Weil 2015 Flash Survey: Law Firms in Transition

©2015 Seyfarth Shaw LLP | 23
how serious are law firms?
about providing greater value to clients
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Firms say… But clients say…
Source: Altman Weil 2015 Flash Survey: Law Firms in Transition
“not at all serious” “doing everything they can”

SPARTAN DESIGN
BUT ORIGINAL INSIGHT
In 3 years of looking at this survey…
I NEVER THOUGHT OF DOING THIS
WHY?
CREDIT: CASEY FLAHERTY

58%
36%
74%
9%
17%3%
58%
38%
2%
69%
9%
20%
#Change = #FakeNews?
0%
Responses from
law firm leaders
remained fairly
constant over
this period…
Relying on the “average”
customer for feedback can be
misleading. Because influencers
tend to have strong feelings,
they emerge from the edges,
not the middle. The clients who
are most skeptical of law firm
change efforts represent prime
targets for providers who
position themselves as
innovators and changemakers.
Source: Altman Weil Law Firms in Transition & Chief Legal Officer Surveys, 2012 - 2017Copyright © 2018 Six Parsecs LLC. All rights reserved.
2012 2017 2012 20172013 2014 2015 20162013 2014 2015 2016
@jaesunum

41%
47% 40%
3%10%
50%
44%
5%
49%
2%
2012 2017 2012 20172013 2014 2015 20162013 2014 2015 2016
Texture of law firm
leader responses
over time suggest
client are applying
pressure unevenly
across distinct law
firm segments
3%1% 5%4%
Only a tiny minority of clients
say corporations are putting
intense pressure on firms to
change their service delivery
models, in any year.
40%45%
49%43%
51% 49%
CLO responses fluctuate in
the middle. This suggests
that client pressure on firms
is fluid and situational,
highlighting the need for
open channels of dialogue
between client & firm to
calibrate expectations on an
ongoing basis.
9%
#ChangeConversation = #LostInTranslation
Source: Altman Weil Law Firms in Transition & Chief Legal Officer Surveys, 2012 - 2017Copyright © 2018 Six Parsecs LLC. All rights reserved.
@jaesunum

Spartan yet again, but he gets the job done
SIMPLICITY IS A VIRTUE
CREDIT: CASEY FLAHERTY

YOUR TURN
THINK ABOUT THE CONTENT
WHAT DOES IT MEAN? BOTH Q & A
RELATIONSHIPS ACROSS QUESTIONS?
THINK ABOUT THE ACTUAL PERSON BEHIND THE RESPONSE
@jaesunum

SKETCH YOUR IDEA
Source: Good Charts
1. How important do you think it is for lawyers to be
"good with data" (whatever that might mean to you)?
2. Generally speaking, which of the following best
describes your relationship with math?
3. What do you think of "lifelogging" / "quantified self"?
4. Which of the following best describes your
undergraduate major?
5. How do you feel about the prospect of working with
data in a professional setting?
6. How would you rate your overall user experience to
date with Microsoft Excel?
7. How would you rate your current proficiency in
Microsoft Excel?
8. How would you rate your interest level in eventually
gaining mastery of Microsoft Excel?
9. Are you confident in your ability to explain to your
parents what "Big Data" means?
10. Are you confident in your ability to explain to an 8th
grader the difference between "causation" and
"correlation"?
11. Which of the following data skills do you think you
will need in the next 5 years?
a. Data wrangling
b. Statistical & mathematical modeling
c. Computational methods
d. Insight discovery
e. Data visualization
f. Data storytelling
g. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
ALL OF THE THINGS!
# OF STUDENTS
# OF SKILLS PERCEIVED AS NEEDED
@jaesunum

BI Architecture & Data Engineering
• Database and data warehouse design
and administration
• Data storage and networking procedures
• RDBMS, SQL, OLAP, APIs, enterprise
architecture, security, permissions
Data Collection & Wrangling
• Collection & mining methods
• Excel (yes, really), SQL, R, Python,
Power BI / Tableau Prep
Statistics & Math
• Distributions, centrality, regression,
significance, confidence
• Statistical inference
• Supervised learning algorithms
Business Smarts / Domain Knowledge
• Understand your clients’ industry & current
operating environment: not only regulatory,
also political, economic, social & tech
• Understand your clients’ business: revenue
models, P&L & growth drivers, org dynamics
• Business of law models & economics
• Legal supply chain evolution
• Financial governance in corporate and/or
legal service provider environment
THE GAME HAS CHANGED
Insight Discovery & Sharing
• Visual analytics
• Excel (yes, really), Tableau, R,
Python, JavaScript, HTML/CSS
and PowerPoint (yes, really)
Computational Analytics
• Language processing and text analysis
• Machine intelligence, statistical pattern
recognition & neural networks
• Genetic/evolutionary algorithms vs XAI
THIS IS A PARTIAL LIST OF ALL THE USEFUL THINGS YOU COULD LEARN
YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW ALL OF THIS BY YOURSELF
WORKING EFFECTIVELY WITH PPL WHO DO = WILDLY VALUABLE
@jaesunum

SHAPED
LAWYER
A FEW NON-OBVIOUS
IMPLICATIONS
MODERN LAW IS A TEAM SPORT
LEGAL TEAMS ARE INCREASINGLY
DIVERSE & CROSS FUNCTIONAL
Growing complexity tilt toward specialization
But YOU are the decider & the designer of your T
But it is hard to identify & assemble the right mix
of skills needed for each specific challenge
WINNING TEAMS CROSS THE
TRANSLATION BARRIER
“Boundary-spanners”: we need people who can
traverse different spheres of knowledge & thinking
@jaesunum

CONTENT
(meaning)
SOME JD ADVANTAGE
CAPABILITY CONTEXT
(skills) (stakes)
FOR YOU
DATA IMPERATIVE FOR LEGAL BUSINESSES
FOR YOUR EMPLOYER
BUY OR BUILD
NEED EXPERIENCELITERACY OR MASTERY
@jaesunum

DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE
Experts in industry & company
GENERAL TECHNICAL FLUENCY
Don’t need to build models
but know what models are
available and apply them to
the right business problems
Interpret model results and ID
potential model errors, such
as overfitting
PROJECT MANAGEMENT SKILLS
& ENTRPRENEURIAL SPIRIT
“
McKinsey Analytics
February 2018
@jaesunum

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
@jaesunum

If the topic of regression comes up in
a criminal or civil trial, the side
that must explain regression to the
jury will lose the case.
“
David Freedman
Statistician
@jaesunum

DATA
IT’S THE NEW HOTNESS
@jaesunum

BUT THAT’S NOT WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
DATA
IT’S THE NEW HOTNESS
@jaesunum

HYPE TRAIN
39% of law departments say they collect and
analyze metrics to improve efficiency…
@jaesunum

HYPE TRAIN
39% of law departments say they collect and
analyze metrics to improve efficiency…
9% report “great results”
@jaesunum

HYPE TRAIN
68% of CLOs say none of their top 10 firms
provide useful analysis of spending data
@jaesunum

LITIGATION COMPLIANCE EE RELATIONS
Disputed facts
Theory of damages
Time to disposition
Cost of compliance
Cost of non-compliance
Systemic performance
Incident rates
Escalation rates
Hot spot analysis
RISING SOPHISTICATION ACROSS PRACTICE AREAS
TRENDING TOWARD PORTFOLIO/SYSTEMIC ANALYSIS
(MORE MATURE THAN UNIT ECONOMICS)
@jaesunum

THEIR PAIN = YOUR OPPORTUNITY
IF YOU HAVE THE WILL & THE SKILLS

LIFE & CAREER PATHWAYS
USED TO BE SIMPLE
(ALLEGEDLY)
YOURS ≠ SIMPLE
“back in the day”
now & future (BUT IT WILL BE BETTER)

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