International law firm McMillan LLP will begin using predictive analytics to create pricing models for its legal services to provide more cost certainty for clients.

By leveraging IBM’s comprehensive predictive analytics system, SPSS, and running the system on IBM Cloud, McMillan aims to remove subjectivity from the pricing process, according to announcement from McMillan and IBM. By analysing and interpreting McMillan’s internal data, the cloud-based solution will also help identify case issues most likely to affect price.

“We’ve seen how cloud and big data can transform business,” McMillan CEO Teresa Dufort, said in the statement. “We’ve chosen to be at the forefront of the legal industry using advanced analytics to service our clients. By partnering with IBM, we are looking to provide clients with greater transparency on the timing and cost of transactions.”

Dufort adds that the extra data and intelligence will allow the firm to better manage change and improve staffing, and provide clients with alternative fee options. The firm also plans to use IBM’s Bluemix platform to develop new app services, which will be exclusively available to McMillan’s clients.

“Analytics can be a catalyst for innovation to help organizations uncover data insights to solve business problems and yield real-time results,” says Tim White, Vice President, Software, at IBM Canada. “Data is the world’s new natural resource.”

McMillan has several practice areas including antitrust, commercial real estate, M&A and natural resources.

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