Law Firms Turning to Business Intelligence Software to Gain Clients

Today's Globe and Mail has a report on the increasing use of business intelligence software by Canadian law firms.

Excerpts:

"The technology gathers information from a variety of databases containing financial, marketing, staffing and other information. It then allows individual lawyers to slice and dice the data in various ways."

"Some large firms are even using business intelligence to devise a variety of staffing models -- blending the work of lower-priced associates and even paralegals with that of senior partners for the most efficient mix -- thereby enabling them to bid on contracts they might have dismissed as unprofitable."

"...law firms have only recently jumped into the fray, in part because systems tailored to their businesses only recently became available. Large Canadian firms that are currently implementing systems, but have yet to roll them out, include Toronto-based Borden Ladner Gervais LLP and Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP as well as Calgary-based Macleod Dixon LLP."

Among the software makers that have shown interest in the legal industry are: Thomson Elite and Atlanta-based Aderant, Redwood Analytics Inc. of Moorestown, N.J., and Satori Group Inc. of Conshohocken, Pa.