Law Firms Have More Data Than Ever. Why Is It Still So Hard to Find the Right Information?

Law firms have access to an extraordinary amount of information about their clients, prospects, matters and professional relationships. CRM systems contain contact information, experience databases document previous work, financial systems track client activity and marketing platforms record participation in events and campaigns. Pitch records, email systems and individual lawyers' knowledge contain additional information that could be valuable for business development.

With all of these resources available, finding the right information should be relatively straightforward. Yet lawyers and business development professionals often spend considerable time trying to answer questions that seem simple. Who knows the general counsel of a particular company? Has anyone at the firm worked with this prospective client before? Which lawyers have relevant experience, and what do we know about the company's current priorities?

A lawyer preparing for an important meeting may send emails to colleagues asking whether anyone has a relationship with the people attending. A business development professional preparing a pitch may search several systems, contact multiple partners and piece together information from previous proposals. Even when the firm already possesses much of the necessary information, locating it and understanding how the pieces fit together can be difficult.

The challenge is making existing information accessible, connecting it across different sources and presenting it in a way that helps lawyers and business development teams make informed decisions.

Why More Data Hasn't Automatically Created Better Business Development Intelligence

Law firms have invested heavily in technology, but many of their systems were designed to address specific operational needs. A CRM system manages contacts, a financial system tracks revenue and billing, an experience database records representative matters and a document management system stores work product and other materials.

Each system may perform its intended function effectively while providing only part of the information needed for business development. A lawyer researching a prospective client might need information from several of these sources to understand the firm's relationship with the company, its relevant experience and the people who could help facilitate an introduction.

Consider a firm preparing to meet with the general counsel of a company it hopes to develop as a client. The CRM system may contain the general counsel's contact information, while the experience database shows that the firm previously advised one of the company's subsidiaries. Another partner may have worked with the general counsel at a previous employer, and the firm's financial system may reveal an existing relationship with a related business.

Individually, these pieces of information have value. Connecting them gives the lawyer a much more complete picture of the opportunity and helps the business development team determine how to prepare for the meeting.

This is where firms can begin to get more value from their existing technology investments. Improving access to information is important, but understanding the relationships among different sources can make that information substantially more useful.

Lawyers Need Answers to Specific Business Development Questions

Lawyers are more likely to use technology when it helps them accomplish something connected to their daily responsibilities. They may have limited interest in reviewing extensive contact records or searching through multiple databases, but they often need answers to specific questions before meetings, pitches and other business development activities.

A partner preparing to meet a prospective client may want to know whether anyone at the firm has an existing relationship with the company's leadership. A lawyer considering an introduction may want to identify the colleague who knows a particular executive. A client relationship partner may need to understand which other lawyers have connections within the client's organization.

The information becomes especially useful when it includes context. Knowing that two people are connected provides a starting point, but understanding whether they previously worked together, attended the same event or have maintained an active professional relationship can help the lawyer determine whether an introduction is appropriate.

Business development teams can use this information to prepare more relevant meeting materials, identify potential introductions and coordinate outreach. Instead of spending hours determining whether the firm has a connection to a company, they can devote more attention to understanding the opportunity and helping lawyers prepare for the conversation.

The practical value of relationship intelligence comes from answering questions that help lawyers decide what to do next.

Connect Information Before Important Client and Prospect Meetings

Meeting preparation is one of the clearest examples of how connected information can support business development. Lawyers need to understand the people they are meeting, the organizations they represent and any existing relationships that may influence the conversation.

A traditional meeting briefing might include company background, recent news, biographies of attendees and a summary of relevant legal experience. These materials provide a useful foundation, but additional relationship information can make the briefing more valuable.

For example, the business development team may discover that a partner in another office previously worked with one of the attendees, that the firm advised a related company several years earlier or that another practice group recently met with someone in the same organization.

These details can help the team identify colleagues who may have useful insights, avoid duplicating outreach and determine whether an introduction would strengthen the relationship. They can also reveal opportunities to discuss additional capabilities when those capabilities are relevant to the client's needs.

The objective is to give lawyers a clear understanding of the relationship before they enter the meeting. When the information is organized and accessible, the business development team can spend more time developing a thoughtful approach and less time reconstructing the firm's history with the organization.

Improve Collaboration Across Practices and Offices

One of the most valuable aspects of a law firm's business development potential is the collective network of its lawyers. Partners and associates develop relationships throughout their careers with clients, former colleagues, referral sources, industry executives and other professionals.

At larger firms, those connections may extend across numerous offices, practices and industries. A lawyer in New York may be pursuing a company whose general counsel has known a partner in London for more than a decade. A corporate partner may have a longstanding relationship with an executive who could benefit from the firm's regulatory experience. A recently hired lateral may know decision makers at companies that other practice groups have been trying to develop.

These connections can be difficult to identify when relationship information is maintained primarily by individual lawyers or scattered across different systems. As a result, business development teams may spend considerable time asking colleagues for information that already exists elsewhere in the organization.

Greater visibility can help firms coordinate their efforts more effectively. When a business development professional understands which lawyers have relevant relationships, they can identify potential introductions, involve the appropriate colleagues and help create a coordinated approach to client development.

This also supports cross-selling and broader client relationship management. A firm may have several lawyers working with different divisions of the same company without a complete understanding of those relationships. Connecting the information can help client teams identify existing contacts, understand the scope of the firm's work and explore additional opportunities where there is a genuine client need.

Make Existing Information More Useful for Pitches and Proposals

Preparing a pitch frequently requires business development professionals to gather information from numerous sources. They may need to identify relevant matters, determine which lawyers have relationships with the prospective client, research the company's recent activity and understand the firm's history with the organization.

Much of this information may already exist, but locating it can involve searching databases, reviewing previous proposals and contacting colleagues across the firm. The process becomes particularly challenging when deadlines are short or when several practice groups are involved.

Connecting relationship information with other business development intelligence can help teams prepare more efficiently. Before developing a proposal, the team can research the prospective client, identify existing connections and determine whether the firm has relevant experience with related companies or industries.

For example, a firm pitching for work from a private equity sponsor may benefit from understanding its existing relationships with the sponsor's professionals, previous work involving portfolio companies and connections held by lawyers across different practices.

Having a more complete picture can help the team identify the appropriate lawyers to involve, prepare a more relevant proposal and develop a coordinated approach to the opportunity.

Help New Laterals Put Their Relationships to Work

Lateral integration presents another opportunity to make better use of relationship intelligence. New partners often arrive with substantial professional networks and valuable knowledge about clients, industries and referral sources. At the same time, they need to become familiar with the firm's lawyers, capabilities and existing relationships.

Without a coordinated process, it can take months for a lateral to identify colleagues who share important contacts or have experience relevant to the lateral's clients and prospects. Business development teams may rely on introductory meetings and individual conversations to uncover these connections.

A more connected view of relationship information can help identify potential areas of collaboration earlier in the integration process. For example, a new corporate partner may have a relationship with a company that is already a client of the firm's employment practice. A lateral joining the litigation team may know executives at companies where the firm has established transactional relationships.

Understanding these overlaps gives business development teams an opportunity to coordinate introductions and help the lateral develop relationships across the firm. It can also help existing partners identify ways to collaborate with their new colleagues and provide clients with access to relevant capabilities.

Relationship intelligence becomes particularly useful when it supports a structured integration plan that connects people, experience and business development opportunities.

Turn Scattered Data Into Relationship Intelligence

The value of law firm data increases when people can understand how different pieces of information relate to one another. Contact records, company information, previous matters and individual relationships all contribute to a more complete understanding of a client or prospect.

Gatsby helps law firms turn scattered information into useful intelligence for business development, client growth and relationship management. By helping firms connect relationship information and understand who knows whom, Gatsby supports the research and preparation needed to identify relevant connections and pursue opportunities.

For business development professionals, this can mean spending less time piecing together information from different sources and more time helping lawyers understand their clients, prepare for meetings and coordinate outreach.

For lawyers, better access to relationship information can make it easier to identify colleagues who may have useful insights, recognize existing connections and determine who to involve in a business development conversation.

Technology provides the information, while lawyers and business development teams apply their knowledge of the relationship, the client's needs and the firm's capabilities to determine the appropriate next steps.

Start With the Questions Your Firm Needs to Answer

Improving access to information doesn't necessarily require beginning with an entirely new data collection initiative. Law firms can start by identifying the questions their lawyers and business development teams struggle to answer and examining where the relevant information currently resides.

Meeting preparation, pitch development, cross-selling, lateral integration and client relationship management are useful starting points because each depends on understanding connections among people, organizations and the firm's experience.

For example, a firm might begin by examining how its business development team prepares for prospective client meetings. Which systems must the team search? Which questions require emails to colleagues? What information is difficult to verify, and which parts of the process consistently take the most time?

Understanding these challenges can help the firm prioritize improvements that have a direct connection to business development activities. It can also help the team determine which information needs to be more accessible, how it should be organized and what context lawyers need to use it effectively.

The firm's existing data represents a significant investment. Connecting that information and making it easier to apply can help lawyers prepare more effectively, improve collaboration across the organization and identify opportunities that might otherwise remain difficult to see.