Aaron Crews
With data analytics likely to become a major differentiator in 2018, US employment and labour law giant Littler has further expanded its data analytics capabilities with the re-hire of Text IQ’s general counsel and VP of strategy, Aaron Crews, as its first chief data analytics officer.
Based in the Sacramento office, Crews (pictured), who was previously global head of eDiscovery at Walmart and before that a partner and eDiscovery counsel at Littler, will work closely with Dr. Zev Eigen, Littler’s global director of data analytics, and a team of data analysts.
Crews and the team are currently undertaking an analysis of the data analytics resources already available within Littler in terms of technology and people and starting to examine the firm’s processes. He told Legal IT Insider: “In all three we’re doing a gap analysis. Strategically our objective is to provide better and additional services to clients, faster and cheaper, driven by data. We’re looking at the resources in terms of people and technology and really asking ‘do we have what we need across the board’: if not we’re looking to fill that.”
When it comes to the firm’s data analytics software, that analysis will include working out whether and where the firm ought to be partnering with vendors or building its own solutions internally.
Littler has led the market with solutions such as its Littler CaseSmart platform, launched in 2010, which redesigned the way employment matters are handled through technology, alternative staffing and legal project management, backed by data driven insights.
Jeremy Roth, co-managing director of Littler told us: “It’s a statement of fact that the client service component of our business is more competitive and more efficiency focused and that clients are demanding ‘more for less’: better quality at a lower cost point.
“We had a eureka moment a few years ago and realised that data was a big thing and we have a lot of it, being the largest employment firm. We have a lot of data points we want to use to add additional value to that service component. As I explained to Aaron in the recruitment process, I felt we had a great orchestra but no conductor. Given the right musicians, Aaron can create a symphony.”
Crews said: “What all this is about is Littler saying to clients: ‘We hear your pain points.’ Clients are building legal ops teams because they want a more efficient way to engage in legal services. A lot of service providers in the legal space haven’t been very responsive for requests for more efficient services. This group really is a legal operations group inside the world’s largest employment firm.”
Crews will be working very closely with CIO Durgesh Sharma and CISO Michael McGuire, commenting: “We’re going to be attached at the hip.”