The Legal Data Intelligence Podcast with David Cowen (Episode 21)

In this episode of Careers and the Business of Law: The Legal Data Intelligence Series, host David Cowen speaks with Dave Bernstein. Bernstein looks back at his unique career in which he spent close to two decades working on data analysis and process improvement in the shipping industry, before pivoting over to Wells Fargo where he built a legal data and analytics team.

This episode is peppered with thought-provoking insights on the utility of Legal Data Intelligence in the modern technology-enabled legal workspace, book recommendations on data literacy and change management, and the importance of “informed optimism.”

Listen to the full episode and read a partial transcript below.

David Cowen: How in the world did you go from the largest shipping conglomerate in the world for 18 years into legal. Tell us how you did that?

Dave Bernstein: Yes, my background is a little different from a lot of the other people on this podcast or even in the legal industry. [Shipping] is a very heavy margin business. So there was a lot of offshoring work. I was there for about 17 years or so. I was looking for a role in analytics and reporting but one that was also process-focused. The opportunity in the legal department at Wells Fargo was about building out an analytics and reporting team. So it just caught my eye and I was very excited about it. I saw it as a chance to leverage my past experience and build a team, a reporting framework, and advanced analytics. I joined the team around nine years ago.

If I'm watching you in your office in the morning, what would I see? What tech are you using, what books are you using to learn new things?

Perplexity is something I'm playing around with a little bit. I'm also interested in books. Especially on the change management side of things; authors like Jordan Morrow. I’m reading two of his books: 1) Be Data Analytical; and 2) Be Data Literate. Be Data Analytical is really about how do we drive our team from the reporting and dashboards to then delivering insights. And Being Data Literate is about how you can lead and drive the culture of the Wells Fargo legal department to be more data-driven, like it’s a part of our day-to-day. We’re getting good at this, but I think we can be great. So, it’s a combination of using things like Perplexity, doing research on these topics, and reading books about them. But more generally, I also think about how I can tell the story across the Wells Fargo legal department to really drive the culture towards data-driven decision-making.

What do you make of these new LDI-esque roles that are emerging in the industry today?

Oh I think it's phenomenal. Legal Data Intelligence is becoming ingrained in the way we think and the way we work. It's nice to have a common vocabulary that you can talk to your peers whether they are in the same or a different industry. I think the common terminologies really help. Having the same framework also opens up diverse opinions as we can all use the same LDI vocabulary to share our diverse opinions.