In-House Counsel

Attributized Bayesian analysis (!) and the selection of law firms

By Rees Morrison

One of ten ?predictive analytic techniques? describe in MIT Sloan Mgt. Rev., Vol. 50, Winter 2009 at 32-35, attributized Bayesian analysis could be used by a law department. For example, the tool could clarify why an in-house lawyer selects firms as he or she does by examining the attributes of the law firms the lawyer likes or dislikes.

Attributes can be explicit (size of the firm, location of its offices, years out of law school of the responsible partner) or implicit (subjective descriptions such as "innovative" or "good chemistry"). Many attributes are available for law firms but a law department would have to collect data on the law firms it has used as well as prospective law firms for this analysis to give insights (See my post of Oct. 22, 2008: law firm attributes important for selection with 12 references.)

Similarly, this analytic technique and its associated software could give insights into the positive and negative attributes members of a legal department perceive about a software package.

Full post as published by Law Department Management on January 25, 2009 (boomark / email).