Business Intelligence Research

Mckenna, Long & Aldridge

• Mckenna Long & Aldridge LLP (MLA) in an international law firm with more than 575 attorneys and public policy advisors in 13 offices and 11 markets.

• Represent clients in the areas of complex litigation, corporate law, energy, environment, family wealth, finance, government contracts, health care, infrastructure, insurance, intellectual property, public policy, real estate and technology.

What is Business Intelligence?

• Having knowledge, understanding and foresight of your competitive environment that contributes to decision making and action.

• The process of collection of data, analysis and filtering of information

Business Intelligence at Mckenna Long & Aldridge

• RFPs: assist in compiling and anlyzing information on companies and industries during the Request for Proposal process

• Alerts: setting up docket, SEC filings and news alerts• List Creation: compiling lists of target companies,

associations and events• Industry analysis: Providing overviews of industry

trends• Legal Trends: identification of legal trends in

particular industries

Business Intelligence at MLA Continued

• Geographic Research: preparing profiles of legal/business environment nationally and internationally

• Competitor Profiles: preparing profiles on competing law firms focusing on their strategic plans

• Lateral Research: tracking and compiling lists of lateral partner moves as well as compiling lists of potential lateral partners by practice area

• Special Projects: preparing research for partner and practice group retreats, establish proactive methods of gaining new business

What is a Dossier?

• A dossier is an overview on a company that includes:

• A company profile from a source like Cap IQ, Hoovers, OneSource or Bloomberg

• Sections of SEC Filings (10K or 10Q)• West Monitor Report• Recent News Articles• Lobbying Reports

Dossier Thought Process

• What line of business of the potential clients will the partner want to pitch to?

• Can the requestor provide you with any background info on the company?

• Does the company have legal issues?• Can the BI team pull the info together in the

given time frame?• Is the company public or private?• Does the company have a website?

Publicly Accessible vs. The Pay Wall

• My project for the practicum was to pick a company and attempt to put together a dossier first using only free publicly available information and then again using the information inside the databases the firm pays for.

• Compare the differences and problems encountered.