In the movie Moneyball, Brad Pitt plays Billy Beane, the innovative manager of the Oakland Athletics baseball team who used statistical data about player performance to lead the team to 20 straight wins in the 2002 season. Beane analyzed how pitchers released the ball, where the ball crossed home plate, which pitches drew the most swings, and how often players got on base. Moneyball is a baseball movie, but more broadly it illustrates how empirical data and statistics have changed the way we analyze and solve problems.
Baseball franchises are but one of many kinds of organizations using statistics to improve performance. Some legal departments have begun gathering statistical data to evaluate the effectiveness of their compliance programs. Several years ago, lawyers would talk at compliance conferences about the elements of an effective compliance program under the United States Sentencing Guidelines. “You have to assess the program,” a panelist would say, but there was not always a clear, data-driven way to do so. The guidelines have not changed significantly, but technology has changed the way companies assess their compliance programs. Across the globe, in-house compliance lawyers are using empirical data and statistics to effectively manage allegation programs, document production, due diligence, compliance audits, and training.
