Harnessing legal data for better decision-making
For a century, Delta Air Lines has been connecting people to the world. A Fortune 100 U.S. company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, it serves 290 destinations on six continents, and employs more than 100,000 people worldwide, with more than 80 lawyers and staff on its legal team. When it comes to legal operations, technology is at the core of its success strategy, and it relies on a variety of Thomson Reuters solutions to drive that strategy. These solutions include:
- The leading-edge software for matter and spend management, Legal Tracker, which e-billing, and benchmarking analytics designed specifically for corporate legal departments.
- The award-winning legal know-how solution, Practical Law, which delivers up-to-date guidance, templates, visualization tools, and more — augmented by generative AI (GenAI) to help legal professionals work faster and with greater confidence.
- The online legal research solution, Westlaw, which delivers fast, accurate answers with trusted content, proprietary editorial enhancements, and advanced GenAI skills to help you do comprehensive and accurate legal research.
A firm grip on legal spend
Prior to implementing Legal Tracker, monitoring billing compliance and avoiding over-billing was a challenge. The legal team relied on manual processes with data spread across multiple Excel spreadsheets. Now, managing legal spend has become exponentially easier, creating significant efficiency gains and cost savings. With Legal Tracker, the legal department has greater visibility over invoice status, billing data, and key performance metrics.
Immediate ROI
Return on investment (ROI) was immediately obvious, and Legal Tracker has continued to deliver value over time. For example, time spent by lawyers on administrative tasks has been reduced by at least 30%. In addition, the firm can adhere to billing guidelines more consistently, and there is more transparency over expenditure and rates charged. Laura Dieudonne, Legal Operations and Administration Director for the company’s legal department estimates, “Since we started capturing expenses and rates within the system and tracking things comprehensively, I would say we’ve saved over a million dollars, mainly due to better spend tracking and more effective rate negotiations with law firms.”
“Now we have a single source of truth where we can see the rates across the board, in various areas, so we can be keener on billing rates. Our law firms love it as well, because it’s easier for them to just go in and upload their bills and check their status. It helps outside counsel to comply with our billing guidelines because they have those guidelines right there, and the system alerts them if there are any issues.”
Effective reporting and data visualization
Dieudonne explains that because managing legal spend is a very data-intensive process, the ability to report on that data effectively is critical.
“Legal Tracker keeps track of exactly what our legal spend is, where it’s being spent, and it allows us to do some very interesting things with our data,” says Dieudonne. “The more information you have, the better you can understand where your financials are, implement different measures to manage that spend, and find areas of potential opportunity for cost savings. So, the quality of the Legal Tracker data has been a great help.”
Legal Tracker connects seamlessly to Microsoft’s Power BI business data analytics tool, enabling powerful data visualizations. This connection allows for information to be extracted from Legal Tracker and displayed dynamically on a single platform, giving lawyers visibility into their practice group’s spending and identifying potential improvements to help meet Delta’s financial goals.
Facilitating collaboration between departments
Dieudonne appreciates the ability to shape data into detailed narratives to help track progress against financial goals, analyze accruals, manage reconciliations, and identify cost-saving opportunities. This feature is helpful for the legal department, and for collaboration with other teams, such as finance. The finance team also uses Legal Tracker for direct visibility into bills, budgets, and accruals. “The data that comes out of Legal Tracker is used cross-functionally and collaboratively to support the goals of other departments,” she says.
A strong partnership with Thomson Reuters
Delta chose Legal Tracker because it was seen as the most robust solution on the market, and Thomson Reuters customer service was second to none. According to Dieudonne, “We ask about something we think would benefit us, and Thomson Reuters works with us to implement those new features. It was a partnership right from the very beginning, and that really separated Legal Tracker from the competition.”
Ultimately, the insights and oversight provided by Legal Tracker help the department add value to the wider business. “Legal Tracker enables us to make data-driven decisions. We streamline our operations by utilizing technology, and we better manage the risks. Overall, this has improved our efficiency and positioned us to be strategic partners for the business,” says Dieudonne.
Powerful research and resources
The use of Westlaw to accelerate accurate legal research and Practical Law for trusted, up-to-date guidance and legal resources have also become invaluable. Thanks to these solutions, the company saves more than $200,000 annually by handling more research in-house, and in-sourcing more matters, rather than relying very heavily on outside counsel.
“Westlaw and Practical Law have become a go-to resource for up-to-date legal content and precedents. They have deepened our ability to do research on various matters and save significant time preparing for litigation and advising business units as well,” says Dieudonne.
“All these tools have transformed the way the legal department operates here,” says Dieudonne. “Thomson Reuters solutions have helped us navigate the complexities of legal operations, keeping us competitive in this fast and ever-evolving landscape.”
At-a-glance
Delta
Delta is a major U.S. airline. It handles up to 5,000 departures to 290 destinations in 50 countries each day, with some 200 million travelers using its services every year.
Challenges
Managing legal spend was challenging — data processing and reporting were manual and inefficient, and there was little visibility over KPIs. External law firms’ adherence to billing guidelines was inconsistent, and rate transparency was limited. Delta’s legal team also needed powerful research and knowledge resources.
Why Thomson Reuters solutions?
The solutions are robust, and a strong partnership has been forged with Thomson Reuters. Legal Tracker creates more efficient monitoring and reporting on legal spend, enabling Delta’s legal team to make better-informed decisions and enhance performance. For example, negotiating better rates, saving the company more than $1 million to date. Westlaw’s advanced research tools and Practical Law’s practical resources mean more work is handled in-house, further reducing costs by some $200,000 per year.
Benefits
- Significant efficiency gains and cost savings
- Customizable data reporting features
- Powerful visualization options
- Faster, deeper research and guidance capabilities
- Excellent customer service and partnership with Thomson Reuters
