Very soon, it will be lights out “Down Under” to kick off another great season of Formula 1 (F1) racing. One might think the teams are returning after a leisurely off-season, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, truth be told, the winter preparatory months are arguably more frenetic than the season itself. There’s so much to do and prepare, it’s virtually impossible to pack all those activities into a few short months.

Building out technology services in legal operations isn’t all that different. Like building a car from scratch, it takes a considerable effort to build systems for goals such as applying analytics to quantitative legal case management data or integrating legal judgment and services into existing corporate decision processes. And at the beginning of the year, when budgets are renewed and optimism is rampant, these activities are more important than ever.