"Big Data" listed as the top issue facing forensic and valuation professionals during the next two to five years. - AICPA survey, July 2014

Industry experts say that “Big Data” is changing society and that its use within law firms has already exponentially increased. There are multitudes of seminars, webinars and articles available to lawyers as to how Big Data can be used for jury research, case strategy and early case assessment, case mediation and/or settlement, docket management and on compliance matters regarding privacy and data collection and storage. In an article titled “Know Your Judge...Through Analytics, Not Anecdotes” written for the ABA Journal’s Persuasive Litigator website, internet blogger Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm provides a number of excellent examples of how Big Data is impacting the legal industry.

Litigator David J. Walton in the article “How lawyers and law firms operate in a Big Data world” from InsideCounsel Magazine, states that “Big Data has enormous implications for corporate clients … it has important consequences for the practice of law, meaning how attorneys perform legal work on behalf of clients”…”to engage in trial work lawyers must understand the nature of electronic data - where it exists and how to obtain it, authenticate it and get it admitted … and when to marshal Big Data analytics to build a case.”

An unfortunate fact about Big Data is that it brings about a certain “fear”, generally as to the uncertainty of how to obtain it and then how to manage it. One myth currently being perpetuated is that Big Data is only for big companies and only applies to highly complex matters. This is not the case. Big Data should be addressed with an objective to dart the bulls-eye with data that is pertinent to the matter regardless of complexity.

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