The 2020 Litigation Roller Coaster: Proactively Positioning for Future Litigation Risk – Jeff Cox Writes in Legaltech News

Modernizing legal departments to keep pace with digital transformations and growing risks from litigation spikes requires proactive positioning with litigation analytics and the right legal technology and legal data to manage litigation at scale. With UniCourt’s Legal Data APIs and flexible and interoperable matter management systems in place, legal departments can move the needle forward on modernization and become valued, strategic partners to their business teams. 

To cap off our three-part series in Legaltech News that looked at the lessons learned from litigation spikes 3M faced in 2020, we’re thrilled to share the final article in the series, written by UniCourt’s Director of Content, Jeff Cox: “The 2020 Litigation Roller Coaster: Proactively Positioning for Future Litigation Risk.” 

In this last article, Jeff details how legal departments can take a proactive approach to handling their litigation risk, how they can prep for their “break the glass” moments when they see looming risk on the horizon, and pragmatic steps they can take to continue pursuing modernization no matter their level of sophistication or where they are on their roadmap. 

Here below is an excerpt from our article in Legaltech News:

The litigation rollercoaster 3M faced in 2020, where the company went from a small series of litigation spikes to an all-out surge of over 227,000 cases in just one year, starkly illustrates why litigation analytics matter for catching spikes in real-time and the importance of having the data infrastructure and matter management tools needed to manage litigation at scale.

In the first article in our three part series, we took an in-depth look into the mountain of lawsuits 3M faced in 2020 to show how litigation analytics can take surprise out of the equation for legal departments. We saw how litigation analytics can act as a powerful diagnostic tool, but that analytics alone are not enough, and need to be paired with other legal tech solutions and strategic plans to move legal departments forward.

Throughout the second article in our series, we focused on the legal tech solutions and data needed to manage litigation at scale. By using APIs to gather structured litigation data from the start and matter management solutions with flexibility and interoperability, legal departments can develop the real-time reporting needed to build their own analytics discipline and put in place modernized process automation for handling caseloads when they explode. 

As part of the second article, we also touched on why legal departments should leverage legal tech marketplaces, such as Reynen Court, to find the right tools to fit their needs, and why it’s important for legal teams to be pragmatic and realistic when developing technology roadmaps to bring forth the innovation they’re after. 

Now, we’ll switch gears and hone in on how legal departments can transform beyond just managing litigation spikes as they occur to proactively identifying trends and mitigating or altogether avoiding unnecessary litigation risks.

Taking a Proactive Stance on Litigation Risk

Once you get to the point of managing your own litigation at scale using APIs and matter management solutions, you can begin to look at proactive ways to get ahead of the curve and predict potential litigation spikes before they happen to your company. 

The best way to predict what’s going to happen is to know in real-time when litigation trends are building. And to do that, you need to broaden your focus outside of just the lawsuits that are being filed against your company. More specifically, you need to know (1) what’s happening in your industry, and (2) what’s happening to your competitors.

For example, consider the perspective of a large financial institution. To proactively manage the litigation risk its business faces, our hypothetical big bank can track the litigation happening across the finance industry by focusing on certain types of cases it’s likely to face in the future. Further, it can also track the litigation against other large banks and entities in the finance industry that it considers to be peers or competitors. 

If a peer bank all of a sudden is on the receiving end of a litigation spike for selling similar financial products, or if there’s novel legislation creating new private causes of action and competitors are getting sued by creative plaintiff’s counsel, the legal department at our big bank can see the writing on the wall while it’s still being written. They can then use that intelligence to plan and prepare before similar litigation hits their own doorstep.

With real-time litigation analytics, legal departments can also transition from being seen as a constant cost center, to being valued as a proactive partner to the business. Through providing business teams with litigation intelligence for determining whether certain financial products carry too much risk or whether certain markets are saddled with regulations leading to a likely influx of litigation, legal departments can take a more prominent place at the table as a strategic partner.

While litigation analytics and legal technology can underscore and help manage risks, it’s how you prepare when you have time on your side that determines whether or not you remain reactive or take a truly proactive stance.

You can read the full article here on Legaltech News.

Are you a legal department or legal operations team looking to modernize the way you manage litigation? Contact Us to learn how UniCourt’s Legal Data APIs can automate your workflows and drive your innovation initiatives forward.

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