Data Analytics: The Future of Legal

February 2016

Abstract

During the 2002 season of Major League Baseball (MLB), the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees both won an astounding 103 games, a feat only topped three times by any team in the last 24 years. Despite identical records, the New York Yankees payroll on opening day was $125,928,583 compared to only $39,679,746 for the Oakland Athletics. On a per win basis, the Oakland Athletics paid $385,240 per win compared to the New York Yankee’s $1,222,608. The New York Yankees were not an outlier. All other MLB teams (excluding Oakland) paid on average $853,252 per win in 2002. So how were the Oakland Athletics able to generate wins with over two to three times the cost efficiency of other teams in the league? By now, the answer has been well documented by Michael Lewis in the book and subsequent movie Moneyball, in which Lewis recounts how Oakland Athletics’ General Manager Billy Beane replaced traditional approaches to scouting and roster management with a rigorous use of data and statistical models. This is often referred to as “data analytics.”

Author

Jeremiah Chan

Legal Director, Google Inc., USA

Jeremiah is Legal Director on Google’s Global Patents Team and leads an international team that is responsible for patent operations, analytics, and strategic initiatives. Google’s patent portfolio has received numerous accolades and has been recognized as one of the strongest portfolios in the world (U.S. Patent 100, IEEE Patent Power Rankings, and Thomson Reuters Global Innovator Award). Jeremiah’s team was featured in IAM Magazine (Issue 69, January/February 2015). Prior to joining Google, Jeremiah served as Head of IP for JDSU, a global supplier of broadband and optical solutions. Jeremiah managed a department that was responsible for all patent, trade secret, trademark, and copyright issues. This included portfolio development, litigation management, licensing, and technology transactions. Before JDSU, Jeremiah was in private practice with the law firm of Fish & Neave (now Ropes and Gray), where he specialized in litigation, opinion work, and client counseling. Jeremiah has been recognized as one of the world’s leading IP strategists (IAM Strategy 300) and has served the IP industry as a thought leader for many years. He speaks and writes about IP-related litigation, technology transactions, portfolio development, and IP-driven mergers and acquisitions. He also serves on the Santa Clara Law High Tech Advisory Board. Jeremiah graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with highest honors and received his J.D. from Cornell Law School.

Company

Google Inc.

Google is a global technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products. Its mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Google’s patent portfolio has received numerous accolades and has been recognized as one of the strongest portfolios in the world (U.S. Patent 100, IEEE Patent Power Rankings, and Thomson Reuters Global Innovator Award).

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