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News & Updates: Data in Practice: A Certified Creative Problem Solver

Data in Practice: A Certified Creative Problem Solver

Posted by Marie Jonas

Continuing Excel Education

Advancing my Excel knowledge drove me to take my first college course in quite some time – Excel/VBA for Creative Problem Solving. 20 hours of learning later, I was genuinely thrilled to earn my completion certificate.

VBA, or Visual Basic for Applications, is a programming language used in Excel.

You might ask why I felt the need to take a class on Excel. Besides my passion for data and Excel, the prospect of “creative problem solving” caught my eye. After six weeks of learning, I’m convinced practical data courses like this one are incredibly beneficial for lawyers. Here are the primary benefits that I took away from the class:

  1. Problem-Solving Tools. The course introduced me to fixed logical structures and analytical mapping applied to sometimes messy data inputs. For facts in cases as well, breaking things down and mapping them out can help in case organization and contribute to efficient solutions, bringing a new lens for dissecting problems.  
  2. Increased Efficiency. Coding may not be for every lawyer, but even the rudimentary tools gave me a sense of the massive time-saving basic coding can bring to a legal practice. Data clean up, formatting, forms, and functions: all tools that can be easily automated. Whether it’s analyzing employee time entries, attorney fees, or even legal research: data pops up in all sorts of places – investing time to learn to work with data at the front end, can pay dividends in efficiency (for you and your client) down the line. 
  3. Understand Big Data. As an advanced Excel-dabbler, I’ve become comfortable working with “small” data – manageable data sets that generally can be housed in a few sheets. But big data is measured in petabytes. Stepping up my knowledge, not just of Excel, but some of the “behind the scenes” code that goes into manipulating data was exciting and enlightening. When I consider how big data is applied and intersects with the law, whether it’s in job applications, criminal justice, or voting, this added perspective helps illuminate myriad practical, and legal, issues in our modern data-based society.   

I am excited to dive into Part II. If you’d like to take a hands-on class like this, but aren’t quite ready for programming, Professor Nuttelman also offers an introductory Excel course, Everyday Excel.

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Data permeates every aspect of legal practice. Data in Practice is a bimonthly feature to provide practical tools for attorneys to better organize, manipulate, and understand data. Whether it’s working with basic case information, preparing document productions, or conducting exposure analyses, a more robust knowledge of Excel is guaranteed to streamline your work. A few simple tools can help attorneys more efficiently and effectively represent their clients, and better navigate a professional landscape inundated with big data.

Marie Jonas is a Partner in Folger Levin’s litigation practice group. Marie has over a decade of hands-on experience working with Excel in all aspects of her practice: ranging from investigations to trial. If you have an idea for a topic involving practical data tips for lawyers, she can be reached at mjonas@folgerlevin.com.