Big data has become a critical part of businesses in the past ten years. Due to the nature of the legal sector, it is usually the last among most industries to pick up new technologies. Still, it eventually does, and big data is becoming an excellent resource for law firms.

Since the relationship between big data and the legal sector is relatively new, it is understandable that you could have questions about what it can help you achieve in your law firm. But worry not, as this post can help you better understand the role of big data in the legal field.

1. Analyzing Past Cases and Predicting Outcomes

Big law firms handle different cases simultaneously. By using big data, firms can use algorithms to check for patterns in past cases. With the patterns, they can predict future outcomes for future cases.

For example, a personal injury law firm like Dolman Law handles thousands of personal injury cases annually across the US. Using big data predictions, they can easily determine whether or not a personal injury case is worth taking, thus saving time.

Also, big data helps give prospective clients realistic expectations about the outcomes of their cases, including making estimates about the cost of a lawsuit.

2. Client Support

If you are running a big law firm, you can expect that the number of clients reaching out will be substantial. At times providing support for all clients visiting your site or contacting through other means can be overwhelming, and you don't want to spend a lot on human resources to handle the traffic.

Using big data in collaboration with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can help simplify customer support by allowing automated data-backed systems to handle most client queries. Also, based on past client interactions, firms can identify a specific client's stage in the consumer journey, thus making it easy to create targeted marketing.

3. Researching Cases

Traditionally lawyers would dig into piles and piles of files when researching cases. But with big data, lawyers can easily access a massive wealth of relevant cases and their outcomes in their order of relevance or depending on the lawyer's queries.

This ability to easily access past cases is made possible because big data incorporates ML and goes beyond internal firm data to incorporate data from the entire legal field, making research relatively easy. Easy research means enhanced case handling efficiency, which increases a firm's output.

4. Providing Evidence in Court

Data collection and analysis is not only a legal industry preserve. Almost all big companies and businesses rely on big data for day to day running of their businesses. When legal disputes arise, companies can use big data as evidence in court.

Big data is bound to change the landscape of big corporations' cases, including how evidence is assembled and presented in the courtroom. Sometimes making sense of big data can be challenging and require using expert witnesses in court.

5. Attracting Talent

Big law firms constantly need professionals, but getting the right talent is always a challenge for HR departments. Traditionally HR teams would need to go through piles of applications before getting to the right talent, and when they finally do, there is no guarantee that their pick will be the best fit for their need.

With big data, recruitment of talent is so much easier because it is possible to track a candidate's online presence and build a profile for them which can help determine if they are a good fit for the firm or the position they need to fill. When using big data for recruitment, you must be careful about GDPR compliance to avoid getting on the wrong side of the law.