With knowledge management officers leading the way, law firms like Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Littler Mendelson are jumping on the Big Data train that much of their clientele is already aboard. Wilson is leveraging its market position in venture funding with a quarterly data dive that anyone can access. Littler has given clients a dashboard so they can follow — and analyze — every agency charge the firm is handling at a low fixed fee enabled by some serious process engineering.

Attorney recruiting and development is another area where the troves of data that exist within firms can be tapped to guide and improve decision making. Some firms are turning to an outfit called Lawyer Metrics that offers a "moneyball" approach to attorney recruitment.