KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
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Revolutionizing the Practice of Law through Data Science
Aer obtaining a graduate degree in business analytics in
2015, I was named chief data scientist of Drinker Biddle & Reath,
LLP, a firm that prides itself on leadership and innovation. At the
time I was the only AmLaw100 partner in the U.S. with that title;
now I am happy to say that others have joined me in similar roles
at their firms. I believe this is only the beginning of an upwelling
in the use of data science in the practice of law. The legal
industry is beginning to see that the application of data science
and process optimization principles can help law firms truly
revolutionize how they practice law, bringing greater efficiency
and overall value to their clients and themselves.
Ediscovery: "A Signal in the Noise"
My background is a bit unusual. I started out in the intelligence
community, working at the CIA before going to Georgetown
Law School. Aerwards, at the first major law firm where I
worked, I started out in litigation practice at a time when civil
discovery practice with respect to electronic data was still in its
infancy: a grossly inefficient process involving people in front
of computer screens clicking through documents one by one. In
the last decade or so, though, the world of ediscovery has greatly
changed. Due to the significant insights of ediscovery trailblazers
like my colleague Jason R. Baron, who founded a legal track at the
National Institute of Standards and Technology Text Retrieval
Conference back in 2006, the legal profession has evolved to
embrace both advanced data science techniques and quantitative
metrics to evaluate how well we are finding relevant documents
in vast collections of electronically stored information.
by Benne B. Borden of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Revolutionizing the Practice of
Law through Data Science
