Los Angeles, CA (August 31, 2015) – Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, has hired Zev J. Eigen as the firm’s first National Director of Data Analytics, based in the Los Angeles office. Eigen’s arrival coincides with the launch of the Littler Data Center, a strategic initiative to provide clients with Big Data strategies and analytics resources designed to benchmark and analyze HR and litigation strategies.

Eigen’s arrival bolsters Littler’s already deep analytics capabilities, including its eDiscovery Practice and the award-winning Littler CaseSmart® platform, which provides clients with unique, attorney-client privileged data analytics through a dashboard interface. Eigen’s role will enhance and expand the firm’s Big Data resources in the following areas:

• Assist clients in developing and implementing legally-compliant data analytic approaches and in analyzing case-filings, staffing, duration, costs and identifying successful and unsuccessful litigation strategies
• Provide substantive analysis of Littler data and statistical issues that arise in Littler’s representation of clients
• Work with companies and providers developing data analytic strategies and services focused on the HR and employment law fields

“Zev’s deep understanding of labor laws, combined with his impressive economics and data analytics background, hits a sweet spot with skills that distinguish him from others,” said Tom Bender and Jeremy Roth, co-managing directors of Littler, in a joint statement. “We continue to push the envelope to address and anticipate Big Data solutions that employers need.”

“Littler’s commitment to Big Data far exceeds any firm in the labor and employment arena. The firm is forward thinking in its understanding of advanced metrics and the way in which it counsels clients on risks and best practices,” Eigen said. “Data analytics drives decision-making at the highest levels of many organizations—particularly in strategy, marketing and finance. Companies relying on data analytics in HR and labor and employment law related decisions have a significant business advantage. Littler is wisely progressing in this direction to bolster services for clients in these critical areas.”

Eigen possesses a wide array of experience in technology, economics, social science, statistics and the law. Helping clients make better decisions through machine learning – a type of artificial intelligence that provides computers with the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed – is a unique skill that he brings to Littler. Eigen most recently served as Vice President of Strategy with Contract Standards, a company providing cutting edge machine-learning technology and tools to law firms and corporate counsel. For the past eight years, he has been developing, testing and implementing creative data-analytic solutions for clients. Previously, he also worked for Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation as Senior Counsel, Labor Relations.

“We continue to move data analytics practices from the marketing department into the HR department and help select, manage and oversee clients’ most important asset – their people,” said Marko Mrkonich, Littler shareholder and lead author of Littler’s recent white paper on Big Data in employment. “Big Data analytics operates in a unique setting in the L&E environment. Most management consultants do not have an employment lawyer’s ability to understand the intersection of Big Data and employment law, and we help fill that gap.”

Data analytics is playing a more central role in corporate governance and decision making than ever before. This stems in part from the availability of high velocity data and the ability to gather and store information from many sources at a low cost. The emphasis on machine learning is probably the biggest advance in methodology, something Eigen knows from firsthand experience.

In his role at Littler, Eigen will seek creative ways to help clients analyze diffuse data, which are frequently available but difficult and time consuming for humans to aggregate meaningfully. Finding faster ways to analyze this kind of information helps clients more accurately assess a variety of risks.

“While not all clients want to be fully engrossed in the technical details related to Big Data, they do care about risk and how to mitigate it – which is what we can do with data and analytics,” Eigen said. “I’m excited to return to Littler, a firm that’s always been one step ahead of client needs and is engaged in deciphering data using new technologies to add client value at every turn.”

Eigen earned a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a J.D. from Cornell University. Active in the academic community, he has served as a visiting professor at Yale Law School, New York University School of Law and University of Southern California Gould School of Law, as well as an Associate Professor at Northwestern University School of Law and Kellogg School of Management. Eigen is also an accomplished writer who has published several peer-reviewed research papers and articles in law journals in recent years.

About Littler
Littler is the largest global employment and labor law practice, with more than 1,000 attorneys in over 60 offices worldwide. Littler represents management in all aspects of employment and labor law and serves as a single-source solution provider to the global employer community. Consistently recognized in the industry as a leading and innovative law practice, Littler has been litigating, mediating and negotiating some of the most influential employment law cases and labor contracts on record for over 70 years. Littler Global is the collective trade name for an international legal practice, the practicing entities of which are separate and distinct professional firms.