Aaron Katzel, AIG’s global head of legal operations, said that the company’s 80 professionals in its in-house legal operations team have compiled a database that can create benchmarks for how to staff cases and deals, and how much companies should pay their lawyers. Clients will pay an undisclosed fee for access to the data, to better understand law firm pricing and improve efficiency.

Records’ database

In the process, the new business also plans to compile a records’ database of benchmarking market data from its clients, to keep building its institutional legal market knowledge. However, Mr Katzel stressed that an individual client’s data would never be shared with another, adding: ‘They entrust us with the confidentiality of their data and we would never do anything to jeopardise that.’ Sources: Bloomberg BNA; ABA Journal