Model Update: Legal Data Intelligence Leans into Strategy, AI, and Data Readiness
New Use Cases, Resources, and Upgrades
Author: LDI Team
The launch of the Legal Data Intelligence (LDI) model in 2024 marked a paradigm shift in how the legal industry confronted the data challenges that impede legal work. Designed for iteration and evolution, the model is fluid by design, built to incorporate new use cases and refine existing ones so it keeps pace with a shifting legal and data landscape, while staying grounded in the lived experience of legal professionals tasked with combating intractable data challenges.
As the legal industry undergoes change driven by technological tailwinds, regulatory undercurrents, and the challenges of the data explosion, LDI Architects have made updates to the Legal Data Intelligence model and published new resources to help legal professionals translate best practices and insights into action.
These updates offer comprehensive workflows for new use cases enabled by AI; streamline response readiness programs to navigate extraneous developments; create efficiencies for navigating data-oriented legal tasks; and equip legal professionals with in-depth guidance on transforming routine, administrative workflows into strategic business capabilities.
Today, we announce the addition of three new use cases to the LDI model, updates to two existing use cases, and four new resources focused on helping professionals in our industry unleash the power of legal data and transform it into new levels of intelligence.
Below is a breakdown of what’s new:
Three New Use Cases
Following the three phases in every LDI workflow—Initiate, Investigate, and Implement—these new use cases present step-by-step processes to separate Sensitive, Useful, or Necessary (SUN) data from Redundant, Obsolete, or Trivial (ROT) data, and get to the information that truly matters.
Here’s a preview of the new cases added to the LDI model:
Strategic Response Readiness
Category: Business of Law
In an increasingly volatile legal environment, legal departments face mounting pressures from rapid-fire Executive Orders (EOs), AI technology advancements, and proposed or impending regulatory changes. Strategic Response Readiness establishes a clear, proactive, and data-driven framework for managing these changes across an organization.
In practice, the Strategic Response Readiness workflow can be used by the LDI professional to create a detailed roadmap for meeting potential legal obligations resulting from regulations such as the European Union’s AI Act, ensuring that their company’s AI governance programs are compatible with its organizational ethics and risk management strategies, and demonstrating evidence of compliance to regulators, investors, and other stakeholders.
This workflow spans everything from establishing regulatory monitoring dashboards and keeping stakeholders informed through automated reporting systems to tapping fractional support to fill compliance gaps. It provides a granular view of the key steps needed to ensure readiness for these external (and often unpredictable) developments and regulatory changes.
Predictive Risk Modeling
Category: Disputes & Investigations
Disputes and investigations don’t always need to be reactive. Applying a data-driven approach to risk assessment allows legal professionals to predict risk and monitor changes over time to identify possible red flags in advance. The Predictive Risk Modeling use case leverages predictive analytics to connect business, legal, and compliance data, and proactively identify scenarios likely to lead to negative compliance or legal outcomes.
For instance, let’s say a new product is launched by a company. By deploying a predictive risk model, LDI practitioners can identify scenarios that are more likely to lead to a negative outcome and advocate for the development of guardrails to reduce the likelihood of that outcome.
The Predictive Risk Modelling workflow provides a detailed and comprehensive overview of how to create, deploy, and improve predictive risk models. It includes everything from using AI to analyze historical data and identify patterns associated with legal or regulatory risks to running counterfactual analysis to game out alternative outcomes to support legal strategy.
Contract Formation
Category: Corporate
Legal Data Intelligence professionals are instrumental in elevating contract management from a routine administrative function to a strategic business capability. The Legal Data Intelligence model already included detailed workflows for Contract Reviews and Contract Lifecycle Management, which were both recently updated to reflect the latest best practices in process and how technology can assist. Now, a new Contract Formation use case shifts the focus upstream to address the inception phase of contracts—covering a sequence of essential items and universal actions that go into drafting, redlining, negotiating, and finalizing a contract.
The Contract Formation workflow provides a detailed snapshot of how LDI practitioners can follow a standardized, efficient, and compliant approach to creating and executing contracts. It also includes a variety of time-saving steps aimed at streamlining contract formation, such as using technology to identify templates and clauses from past agreements and to flag relevant laws and standards where applicable.
Practical Resources to Turn Legal Data into a Strategic Advantage
For those looking to apply LDI use cases in their organization, LDI Architects have also created an ambitious body of practical resources to equip practitioners with the insight and context needed to effectively apply the LDI model and transform the legal function from a cost center into a value driver.
New resources include:
White Paper
“Expanding From Early Case to Early Data Assessment: Leveraging Legal Data Intelligence for Dispute Avoidance and Strategic Response”
Law firms and legal departments are sitting on a gold mine of legal data. That data, when properly organized and analyzed, offers unparalleled insights into dispute outcomes, risk exposure, and cost modeling. It’s the value of these insights that has led to an evolution from Early Case Assessment (ECA) to Early Data Assessment (EDA). While ECA focuses on an isolated case, EDA shifts the analysis from one case to an overarching, proactive, data-informed legal strategy. This white paper outlines the framework, practical applications, and cross-jurisdictional considerations of EDA, with a focus on how legal professionals can leverage this approach to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and deliver strategic value across an array of areas ranging from litigation and investigations to dispute avoidance.
This white paper has been co-authored by LDI Architects Kevin Clark, Matthew Hamilton, Melina Efstathiou, and Tristan Jenkinson, together with LDI founding member Kelly Friedman.
White Paper
“The Compliance Need and Strategic Value of the Legal Data Intelligence Model”
Data Protection Compliance is more important than ever to the successful operation of organizations. Organizational intelligence and consistent risk management around data protection and privacy are at the heart of market innovation, key performance indicators, and today’s definition of business success. Companies must prioritize investment in data protection compliance to ensure legal and regulatory alignment; build trust with customers, partners, and stakeholders; and foster operational resilience and competitive advantage.
Colleagues wrestling with data protection and privacy often speak at cross purposes, making it difficult for stakeholders to align efficiently and proactively to address these challenges. This white paper explains how the simplicity of the LDI approach and its standardized vocabulary enables LDI practitioners to effectively communicate and help break down silos between disparate functions.
This white paper has been co-authored by LDI founding member Briordy Meyers, together with LDI Architects Joe Bartolo and Mike Kearney.
Toolkit
“Legal Data Intelligence Contract Management Toolkit”
Imagine a multinational corporation implements a centralized contract management system that stores all agreements in a secure repository, provides automated alerts for key dates, and maintains an audit trail for accountability. Standardized workflows, templates, and clause libraries streamline contract review and execution while advanced search and reporting tools make it easy to locate terms and track obligations. The system reduces legal risk, prevents revenue leakage, and cuts costs by avoiding missed renewals, minimizing errors, and decreasing reliance on outside counsel. By giving legal, procurement, finance, and sales departments a single source of truth, it fosters seamless collaboration and ensures stakeholders always work with the correct version.
This picture-perfect scenario is not merely an idealistic aspiration—it’s the rational outcome of integrating LDI best practices to accurately capture, securely manage, and effectively leverage contractual information. This toolkit serves as a practical and comprehensive guide for LDI practitioners for elevating contract management from a routine administrative function to a strategic business capability.
This toolkit has been co-authored by LDI Architects Odette Claridge and Virginia Ring, together with LDI founding member Josh Kreamer.
Guide
“The Legal Data Intelligence Guide for Onboarding New Technologies”
Effective and intentional use of technology is inextricable from the application of Legal Data Intelligence workflows. Indeed, LDI practitioners tend to be early adopters with a natural orientation toward finding creative and scalable ways to solve legal data challenges. The LDI model highlights the role that technologies—powered by generative AI—can play in making steps faster, more efficient, and less risky, enabling lawyers to reach insights and provide advice more quickly and confidently. These technologies can take care of laborious data tasks and more quickly and accurately find the SUN data that can be transformed into intelligence.
This guide provides a comprehensive approach to technology onboarding to ensure organizations can successfully select new technologies for their various business needs while maintaining their commitment to security, compliance, and operational excellence. It features a checklist that addresses every step in the technology onboarding lifecycle.
This guide has been co-authored by LDI Architects Kayann Fitzgerald, Mike Mendola, and Alexander Simonenko.
Join the Dialogue
The continued evolution of the LDI model reflects the collaborative spirit of LDI Architects, founding members, and practitioners worldwide. By sharing new workflows, refining existing ones, and publishing practical resources, LDI is building a foundation that empowers every legal professional to elevate their craft, and transform legal data from a challenge into a strategic advantage.
Legal Data Intelligence is a labor of love and true team effort. As the Legal Data Intelligence model continues to evolve, we look to you for your valuable feedback and insights.
If you’d like to offer feedback on the model use cases or any of our content, please email us at info@legaldataintelligence.org.