How SALI Legal Matter Specification Standard (LMSS) helps you

specify matters to identify the best resources for legal procurement

January 19, 2020

Different uses of the data must identify matters consistently

Buying

What experience does your law firm/ department have in providing these services?

Matter Staffing

Which attorneys and staff have the expertise we need?

Pricing

What are the budgets and potential pricing options / costs for the requested services?

LMSS Mission: building “UPCs” for legal services

LMSS Mission: building “UPCs” for legal services

Value proposition – “don’t reinvent the wheel”

Use the SALI LMSS when:

You want proposals from your law firms and providers to include actionable structured data that

summarizes their experience and fees history

“Comparing and contrasting all these pitch responses is difficult to do and requires a significant

amount of manual effort. If they all used the same categories, we wouldn’t have to reorganize it

ourselves every time.”

You want to begin performing advanced analytics on results and outputs

“We want to be able to extract much more knowledge out of our matter history, but the content isn’t there

to do that.”

Advantages of a single standard

• Head start in defining a system for tagging matters

• More efficient analytics slicing and dicing

• Reduces ramp-up time in communication

Make sure that no one group or interest can control it

The SALI Alliance is an independent organization of law

firms, companies, solution providers, industry organizations

and academics focused on developing open, practical

standards for the legal industry

Who we are

Our stakeholders

represent all parts of

the legal industry

Legal Service Buyers

(Companies)

Legal Service Providers(Law firms & Alternatives)

Associations & Academics

Technology & Solution Providers

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What is the Legal Matter Specification

Standard (LMSS) 1.0?

https://salilegal.org

LMSS is a free, open standard

Available under the creative

common license

Free and open to all users

Open standards process

LMSS 1.0 is delivers

A vocabulary to describe a matter Code Sets

A structure to describe a matter Matter Structure

The LMSS structure defines where information is stored

At each location there is an allowable value

Allowable values:

• Text

• Number

• True/False

• Enumerated Value (SALI Code Set)

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SALI Code Sets define an agreed upon taxonomy that can be

used in any system

Characteristics

Each code:

• Is unique within its code set

• Fits into 256 characters of less

• Has a well-defined name, code and description

• Has gone through a vetting process

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SALI codes can be imported into your current IT systems

Code Label/Name Description

SALI Excel

File of Code Sets

The LMSS code sets define what are allowable values

The LMSS Code

browser shows

allowable codes

defining our common

vocabulary

SALI LMSS Code Sets explained

SALI code sets follow a consistent set of rules to enable you to

use them more easily

Codes are viewer independent

Ensures that all players code matters the

same way

Codes are hierarchical

Allows you to select whatever level of

specificity is appropriate to your application

Code sets separate different matter facets

Code sets do not conflate different aspects of

a matter which make them more flexible

Code sets are based on existing standards

where appropriate

Rather than reinvent the wheel, many code

sets use existing standards

Codes include information to facilitate

adoption in existing systems

Codes all include a name, English-readable

code, description, and may optionally include

mappings and additional useful data

Codes are extensible

There is a well-defined way to extend codes if

you need to

Codes are viewer independent

No matter which party is describing the matter, it should be coded

consistently using viewer-independent descriptors

Client / Adverse Party → Plaintiff / Defendant

Lessor / Lessee

Licensor / Licensee

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Code sets are based on existing standards where appropriate

Standards-based codes

Industries (NAICS)

Locations (ISO 3166-2)

Currencies (ISO 4217)

Courts (Free Law Project)

Government Entities (Bloomberg Law)

Language encoding (IETF)

Salilegal.org site

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Salilegal.org houses the full documentation of the SALI LMSS

Site includes

Code and structure definitions

Downloadable excel spreadsheet

Documentation

Examples

Interactive code browsers

Explainer video

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Sample LMSS

description of a

matter

Sample LMSS

query of a set of

matters

Getting started with LMSS

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How can you use SALI LMSS today?

Use codes with existing systems/processes

When matter is out for

bid

Matter Pitch

• Service codes

• Location codes

• Area of Law codes

• Industry codes

• Player codes

After matter is opened

Experience Database

• Fill in Process Object

Information

• Industry codes

• Court codes

• Government codes

• Fill in narratives

• Resolution/outcomes/results

When matter is opened

Matter Intake

• Service codes

• Location codes

• Area of Law codes

• Player codes

• Organization codes

• Representation codes

Tell your software vendors!

The power of the SALI LMSS will grow as the codes are embedded

in tools and processes

• RFP software tools tend to not standardize data for cross-party

collaboration, or use homegrown sets not utilized by clients or firms

• Matter experience software that firms rely on to respond to RFPs also

typically does not use a common code framework

How you can get involved

1. Visit sali.org and learn more

2. Sign up for the email list to get access to the draft standard

3. Use the codes and provide feedback

4. Become a member / provide code proposals

5. Ask your vendors to support SALI

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