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Data-savvy law

07 October 2016 / Jeff Hemming
Issue: 7717 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Smart data practices can improve work practices and profits in law firms, says Jeff Hemming

Smart data helps law firms understand business development drivers, establish key metrics and continuously measure against them. A smart data strategy that enables law firms to use data to find ways of working smarter and not harder is key at a time of increasing global competition in the legal sector. For example, US firms are achieving much greater profitability than their UK counterparts. If the UK top tier’s global net profit margin of 37% could match the US top tier’s of 46%, it would generate, on average, £115m of additional profit equating to £229,000 per partner (source: PwC 2015 Annual law firms’ survey).

Against this backdrop, it is vital that firms use data to provide the business intelligence they need to remain competitive. Legal professionals will see real benefits from translating raw data into actionable information that helps them respond to client demands for more resources, more time, and greater productivity—improving results and reducing costs along the way.

An evidence

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NEWS
Conveyancing lawyers have enjoyed a rapid win after campaigning against UK Finance’s decision to charge for access to the Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has launched a recruitment drive for talented early career and more senior barristers and solicitors
Regulators differed in the clarity and consistency of their post-Mazur advice and guidance, according to an interim report by the Legal Services Board (LSB)
The Solicitors Act 1974 may still underpin legal regulation, but its age is increasingly showing. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Morrison-Hughes of the Association of Costs Lawyers argues that the Act is ‘out of step with modern consumer law’ and actively deters fairness
A Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruling has reopened debate on the availability of ‘user damages’ in competition claims. Writing in NLJ this week, Edward Nyman of Hausfeld explains how the CAT allowed Dr Liza Lovdahl Gormsen’s alternative damages case against Meta to proceed, rejecting arguments that such damages are barred in competition law
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