For legal departments, a close look at history can be the key to understanding how to better manage the present—particularly when it comes to a company’s litigation docket.

Monsanto has proven the value of evaluating future litigation threats using data from the past when it comes to asbestos cases. The endeavor recently earned the agriculture company and Husch Blackwell, one of the company’s main outside firms for asbestos litigation, an award for excellence in legal operations from the Association of Corporate Counsel.