TORONTO, ON -- (Marketwired) -- 08/04/16

McMillan LLP and IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced plans to collaborate on the development of a new software platform designed to give clients of the leading national law firm better insight into its legal services. The platform promises to deliver improved cost-effectiveness, promote pricing certainty, and optimize workflows and staffing by standardizing metrics for a range of McMillan's legal services.

Powered by IBM's comprehensive predictive analytics system, SPSS, and running on IBM Cloud, the platform offers advanced algorithms and techniques that aggregate, analyze and interpret McMillan's internal data to strengthen the decision making process.

As a result, the platform will assist the firm in discovering new legal patterns and trends, and help its lawyers build more accurate pricing models. In addition, it will improve McMillan's ability to forecast metrics for a range of its legal services, from purchasing and selling a business to managing litigation to financing transactions, and more.

Previously, pricing a range of legal projects was largely based on individual practitioners' experience. By using data analytics to identify the variables that most meaningfully affect price, McMillan intends to improve the accuracy of its price estimates, enhance cost certainty for clients and deliver more successful alternative fee arrangements.

"We've seen how cloud and big data can transform business," said Teresa Dufort, CEO at McMillan. "That's why we've chosen to be at the forefront of the legal industry using advanced analytics to service our clients. By partnering with IBM, we are looking to provide clients with greater transparency on the timing and cost of transactions. At the same time, we will enhance our ability to improve staffing and manage change. And we will pass the benefits on to our clients."

IBM Cloud gives organizations the unique ability to build in advanced analytics into their business models using one of the highest performing cloud infrastructures available. With speed, power, and flexibility, McMillan will be able to deliver a high degree of customization, transparency, predictability, and automation to their clients.

"Fueled by cloud, analytics can be a catalyst for innovation to help organizations uncover data insights to solve business problems and yield real-time results," says Tim White, Vice President, Software, and IBM Canada. "Data is the world's new natural resource. Together with IBM's advanced analytics system, SPSS as a service, and cloud, McMillan can mine and manage vast amounts of client data, perform and share analyses, and discover new opportunities to allow the company to transform its operations and create competitive legal services for Canadians."

Spearheading this partnership with IBM Canada is Tim Murphy who is a member of the McMillan Executive Committee. "Using our in-house data scientist, McMillan is looking to make advanced analytics a core competency for the firm and subsequently create significant new benefits for our clients," explained Murphy.

Providing a superior and seamless client experience has been of paramount importance to McMillan. To further the firm's efforts on this front, the collaboration will also leverage IBM's Bluemix platform to develop new app services, exclusively available to McMillan clients that will enhance client and lawyer interactions.

About McMillan LLP
McMillan is a leading business law firm focused on serving clients across key industries in Canada, the United States and internationally. Using its collaborative approach to ensure clients receive the high quality expertise they need, McMillan offers pragmatic and solutions-oriented legal advice through its offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit www.mcmillan.ca.

About IBM
For more information on IBM Cloud visit www.ibm.com/cloud.

Media inquiries:
Folasade Apanisile
McMillan LLP
Telephone: 416-865-7011
Email: folasade.apanisile@mcmillan.ca

Lorianne Mule
IBM Canada
Telephone: 905-316-2197
Email: lorianne@ca.ibm.com