Who is a Legal Analyst?
A legal analyst is a professional who focuses on gathering, analysis, research, writing and reporting of various information relevant to the legal industry. Legal analysts help law firms, banks, finance and insurance companies, as well as other corporate industry in their daily business practices by answering questions and tracking down the information that they require in order to do their jobs properly. Legal analysts will tend to become divided into three categories based on what the area is that they will be supporting within the legal industry. These areas include: Legal analysts working in-house with law firms will have various tasks they will be required to complete, which may include: While it is easy to assume that a legal analyst works directly with lawyers, their work can also be found throughout the industry done by paralegals , assistants and legal secretaries. Working as a legal analyst requires being able to complete several very different tasks on a daily basis. As a result, those interested in the position are encouraged to have a combination of strong soft skills as well as hard skills and job experience. Some of the core responsibilities fall within the following tasks: Having a good understanding of legal information and databases will play an important role in performing a legal analyst job, and legal analysts should be proficient in Microsoft Office products. A legal analyst works with information constantly, so having great communication skills, both written and verbal, is essential to success in the position. The job also requires someone who can work independently, has good organizational skills, can prioritize and stay on task with goals.
Duties and Responsibilities of a Legal Analyst
Legal analysts are on the front line of many legal teams. They are responsible for conducting research, preparing and drafting documents, and providing administrative support. There are exceptional legal analysts that specialize in certain areas of the law. For example, project managers who have worked on large-scale litigation matters leading a team in preparation for trial. In terms of the position and industry, a legal analyst is an entry-level or mid-level staff position based on the candidate’s education and previous experience. They can be in law firms, corporate legal departments, and government agencies.
Legal analysts coordinate and manage projects in a manner similar to a project manager or legal secretary. They have the overall responsibility for the completion of all tasks for assigned matters and tracks the progress of those tasks. In addition to the assistance a legal analyst provides in litigation, they provide tracking for corporate transactions, and other legal support responsibilities. A legal analyst supports the work of attorneys as a research source, investigator, and life saver on content that is dependent on meeting deadlines.
Education, Qualifications and Skill Set
A legal analyst is typically considered a high-level expert in their field, often working closely with partners and other senior members of a firm/team. As such, they are often able to work more independently than some other positions, such as paralegals. While legal analysts are not required to have a formal degree, many law firms seek candidates who possess a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in law or a field that is directly related. In addition to formal educational qualifications, a legal analyst should have strong legal research skills, as they will often be responsible for researching a case, drafting legal documentation, or creating and disseminating legal information to clients. Because the job of a legal analyst has clear overlaps with that of a paralegal, many of the same qualifications apply. In addition to strong research skills, common legal analyst qualifications include expertise with computer-assisted legal research tools such as Westlaw and LexisNexis, analytical skills, the ability to prepare legal documents, and administrative expertise.
Prospects for a Legal Analyst
For years or decades, the choices for legal professionals – even attorneys – were either "big firm" or "small firm." While there are more choices available to attorneys and legal support professionals, little has changed when it comes to career advancement options. Today’s legal analysts have more choices than ever.
With the growing acceptance of remote legal analysis and a growing number of technology vendors who support remote legal analysis, there is no need for the legal analyst to work from a law office or corporate legal department. Choosing remote work allows the legal analyst to choose his/her clients and projects, it opens a world of opportunities for legal consulting and even encourages legal analysts to start their own businesses.
Major law firms, mid-sized and small firms certainly have a place in the life cycle of a legal analyst. Large law firms pay well and have the most benefit plans. They invest in professional development too. Mid-sized firms tend to pay well but offer professional development from a limited pool as they are more likely to expect private investment in career development. Small firms may not pay as well and benefits may be limited but job security tends to be more assured.
Low-cost law firms, virtual law firms and law firms that have adopted a model to deliver services at low rates all offer interesting opportunities to legal analysts. As these firms serve clients with "high volume, low margin" work, there’s plenty of opportunity for mid-level to senior legal analysts. Offering clients a low cost option requires skilled and experienced legal analysts who are well-rounded (not narrowly focused) and who can complete assignment quickly. It’s really no different than serving as "OF Counsel" for a large law firm, minus the big salary (or perks).
Corporate law departments have also opened opportunities for legal analysts. Like law firms , corporate law departments offer in-house professional development opportunities. It doesn’t matter if you’re working from a local office or traveling (and living) anywhere in the world. Corporate legal departments have recognized that measuring performance on the hours worked isn’t an effective way to measure contribution to the company’s success. By offering specific, quantifiable metrics for performance, they encourage legal analysts to be increasingly productive. They also have an increasing interest in hiring legal analysts on a contract basis because their operational needs vary (e.g. acquisitions, litigation, investments, regulatory compliance, and other one-time projects). The challenge for corporate legal departments is convincing this group of talent that they offer the best place to work – without the security and financial benefit offered by a "big law" firm.
Private equity firms and business consulting companies have tapped into a growing pool of talent but these opportunities for legal analysts are few and far between. These positions can be quite rewarding and provide legal analysts with another layer of professional development that offers experience with different practice areas and industries. These firms are savvy in securing the talents and time of legal analysts — they’ve learned how to also maximize the benefit of remote legal analysis and leverage the ability to hire experts (in specific practice areas) on-call or on-demand.
Government is an avenue for legal analysts but only a small number of legal analysts are hired by government agencies even though there is a clear need. The constant increase in pro bono and under-resourced legal clinics means the demand for legal analysts with an interest in assisting members of the community is higher now than ever before.
When it comes to the future of legal analysts, the choices for employment are endless so long as you’re willing to consider nontraditional routes of delivery of your products and services. The ability of legal analysts to practice "above the billable hour" to earn a living is also opening the door to entrepreneurial and self-employment options, both part and full-time.
The Effect of Technology on Legal Analysts
Technology is changing the role of legal analysts at law firms, corporations, and government agencies throughout the world. Legal research technology is no longer limited to law library resources and the legal analyst’s role is no longer the stereotypical research puppy, just fetching materials for an attorney whenever they are requested. In recent years, attorneys have had many technological tools supporting them, and those tools continue to increase and evolve over time.
Legal research tools are continuously developing to address the needs of legal professionals. Research products that connect to outside databases such as the Bloomberg Terminal and Lexis Nexis, allowing users to view data visualizations and other comparative information. Search capabilities are becoming more intuitive in their ability to return relevant search results. Subscription platforms and AI-powered tools like ROSS Intelligence, are revolutionizing the research process by providing self-service access to the primary source materials needed for research. These advanced research tools allow legal analysts to spend less time performing routine tasks and more time consulting with clients to understand their information needs and provide them with even better legal research.
Law firm and litigation support structures have changed as a result of these research tools, however, this transformation has been gradual. From 2011 until 2017, the percentage of lawyers working in firms of 500 or more shrunk from 16% to 11% (lubbockonline). During this same period, the number of attorneys working in smaller law firms of between 2-100 attorneys increased from 54% to 65% (lubbockonline). With the decline in ending associate positions at large firms and increased hiring at smaller firms, the role of legal analysts and research assistants has evolved. They are now competing for positions previously held by graduating associates at large firms and must be seen as relevant within small practice groups where cost-effective and innovative legal research methods can be an advantage.
Companies and government agencies accounted for about 9% of lawyers employed in the US in 2017 (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Demand for legal analysts at corporations remains consistent as in-house counsel and compliance officers have a steady need for efficient and accurate legal research. Positioning legal analysts at corporations has been a successful strategy for legal analysts. When examining how corporate resources can be applied more effectively, the legal research process is often the first area to receive attention and funding.
Common Issues Faced by Legal Analysts
The legal analyst role is multi-faceted in nature because of the varying issues addressed by law firms and corporate in-house counsel. Regardless, all legal analysts have common challenges that they must overcome. Those may include, but are not limited to:
Legal research. Immense amounts of information must be accessed, tracked, reviewed and summarized are common tasks of a legal analyst. This can be particularly time consuming and stressful when research must be done on tight deadlines or to meet statutory requirements. Moreover, the quality of the research can have serious ramifications in litigation if the analyst misses something key, resulting in sanctions or even a case dismissal.
Validating the correctness of the citations. A legal analyst must make certain the citations properly refer to the intended source as that is critical to both effective research and successful legal writing. Such challenges may occur because courts have stopped citing (and thus validating) opinions over time, statutes with multiple sources, or because of incorrect rule calculations.
Staying up-to-date on changes in the law. Laws change regularly so legal analysts must remain knowledgeable about pertinent developments in the law on an ongoing basis. As an example, one could spend an entire day reviewing materials on a new issue only to find out the next day that the issue has changed . Furthermore, since justice can often be decided on a single word, failure to stay current on developments in the law (especially regarding a case you are working on) can lead to adverse consequences.
Handling large volumes of information and meeting tight deadlines. It is not uncommon for a legal analyst to handle hundreds of documents, repeatedly, at a moment’s notice especially when new information needs to be analyzed for cases. In addition, because legal analysts are often called upon to perform their work to meet rigid deadlines involving crucial decision points in a case, they must be able to capably deliver reliable, high-quality work product in a timely manner.
Balancing high expectations. Litigation is a high-stakes endeavor and, as a result, both clients and attorneys have a high level of expectations for everyone who handles those cases. Legal analysts often face the dual challenge of meeting client demands while their performance is also being evaluated by attorneys. Moreover, when assessing the quality of a legal analyst’s work, clients (whether internal or external) often look to attorneys for their views on a legal analyst’s performance.
It is important for legal analysts to be mindful of these and other challenges they face, and to work to address or mitigate them. Failure to do so could result in harm to clients (and malpractice suits for attorneys), which could in turn, negatively impact a law firm’s entire bottom-line.