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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