Big Law Firms Change Hiring Criteria

Miami, Florida, August 31, 2016 (Newswire.com) - ​​​​​​​The recent arrival of litigation analytics to the legal industry has forced major companies to re-evaluate their choice of lawyers. Law firms are scrambling to catch up, and 19 of the World’s largest 25 firms have changed their recruiting practices in the last month. The sudden arrival of analytics to law, an industry that traditionally hires attorneys based on law firm brand, law school rankings, and peer recognition, has not been without controversy. “Law has historically been a credence good. This means the market relies on elite credentials and firm reputation as a proxy for skill,” explains Professor William Henderson, of Indiana University Maurer School of Law. 

While some may view legal analytics to be controversial, now, for the first time, hiring managers can base their hiring decisions on actual performance data. In addition, they can also see valuable information about their candidates’ case volume, type, duration, and even the clients they represent. Leading the change is Miami based, Premonition, a company that is bringing about a fundamental shift in how law firms are recruiting Litigators.

"For the first time ever, law firms and corporate counsel can now make true color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and gender blind hiring decisions. Women and minorities are underrepresented as litigators in major law firms, yet the data shows that they are just as successful, if not more so. The era of guesswork is over. Hiring by metrics has arrived."

Fernando Garcia, General Counsel, Nissan Canada

Premonition, the World’s largest litigation database, has recently announced that 19 of the 25 largest law firms in the US are using their analytics products to improve their attorney recruitment process. Premonition is an Artificial Intelligence system that mines Big Data to find top performing Litigators by win rate, case type, case duration and judge. According to the company, “It is x-ray vision for the courtroom.”

Premonition is also impacting the legal industry in other meaningful ways. Many Law firms have struggled to implement effective diversity initiatives. Premonition is helping them bypass these obstacles by shifting the focus away from prestige to actual performance. “Performance transparency is very important, but with this tool, we can now go even further”, says Nissan Canada General Counsel and Premonition Advisory Board Member, Fernando Garcia. “For the first time ever, law firms and corporate counsel can now make true color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and gender blind hiring decisions. Women and minorities are underrepresented as litigators in major law firms, yet the data shows that they are just as successful, if not more so. The era of guesswork is over. Hiring by metrics has arrived.”

A number of major companies in the insurance market are trialling Premonition’s litigator selection tools with a view to reducing court losses and legal spend. Many see insurer-mandated performance minimums as fueling the need for law firms to hire new attorneys with better litigation track records. “It’s getting harder and harder to sell the time of mediocre litigators.” says Premontion Co-Founder & CEO, Guy Kurlandski, “Transparency is coming.”

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Source: Premonition