At the Intersection of Law, Data and Technology with Mollie Nichols

Mollie Nichols is the co-founder and CEO at Redgrave Data, a technology solutions provider. Redgrave Data aims to re-explore how data is analyzed and utilized to drive effective business and legal solutions. Mollie’s legal career spans 3 decades; her mission, she tells Tom Fox, is to provide services at the intersection of law, technology, and science. She and Tom discuss her company, as well as the importance of data governance and ESG. 

Technology Helps

Her stint as assistant to the Texas Attorney General in the late 1990s aroused Mollie’s interest in how data and technology could impact the practice of law. Mollie found an analytics tool that did exactly what they needed to have a breakthrough in the investigation. She remarks, “For me, it was like an ‘Aha!’ moment that showed how powerful technology could be in the practice of law. I literally changed my career at that moment in time, to focus on technology and how it could help clients deal with legal matters.” 

Automating Regulatory Processes

Tom asks Mollie what led her to co-found Redgrave Data and what are the data analytic abilities of the organization. Redgrave Data is associated with Redgrave LLP, a law firm that focuses on information law. Mollie explains that she left Redgrave LLP to focus more on data. She had previously worked as the Head of Advanced Data Solutions, and she had an exceptional team that was able to build a program to deal with client data issues; this program enhanced lawyers’ ability to help their clients. She re-assembled this team to execute the same mission at Redgrave Data. 

Previously, lawyers had to search regulatory websites to assist their clients with regulatory needs. She and the team automated the entire process, making it less costly and more accessible for lawyers. She describes how they use commercial and cloud tools to do content analytics as well as communication analysis. This allows them to develop a sound legal strategy. 

Data Governance and ESG

Tom asks how Redgrave Data helps a company in the area of data governance as it relates to ESG. Mollie explains that data is crucial as it helps them make better business decisions by tracking trends, results, and KPIs. Data also can guide legal decisions. Mollie observes that data governance is important to both businesses and lawyers as it intersects information governance, data privacy, cybersecurity, and e-discovery. From a data governance and corporate governance perspective, businesses need to be transparent about what’s going on within the organization, how to find specific data, and how to measure success. Redgrave Data can assist with finding these data points, and pull the data to a dashboard so it can be viewed and analyzed. 

Resources

Mollie Nichols | LinkedIn | Redgrave Data