Nonprofit acquires Maurer professor’s Lawyer Metrics

The Access Group, a nonprofit organization made up of law schools, has acquired the assets of Bloomington-based Lawyer Metrics LLC, which was co-founded by Indiana University Maurer School of Law professor William Henderson.

Henderson and Christopher Zorn, a national leader in quantitative methodology and statistical analysis and a professor at Pennsylvania State University, created Lawyer Metrics to help legal service organizations use data to make better decisions. Lawyer Metrics provides data analysis for strategic decisions, research and insights, and human capital management.

Henderson was named the “most influential person in legal education” in 2014 by National Jurist magazine earlier this year.

Lawyer Metrics will operate under its current name as a nonprofit affiliate of Access Group Inc., which is made up of nearly 200 nonprofit and state-affiliated ABA-approved law schools. Founded in 1983, it works to further access, affordability and the value of legal education through research, policy advocacy and direct member and student educational services. Access Group is headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and its research center is located in Washington, D.C., but the employees of Lawyer Metrics will continue to work from their current locations.

“The acquisition of Lawyer Metrics will enhance the breadth and depth of applied research capabilities at Access Group’s Center for Research & Policy Analysis and will allow us to further assist our members and other stakeholders to use data to make better decisions,” says Christopher P. Chapman, president and chief executive officer of Access Group. “Bill Henderson and his team have created a dynamic operating environment that will advance Access Group’s efforts to maximize the value of its mission-based activities.”

Henderson said Lawyer Metrics is “thrilled to join forces with Access Group to advance our two symbiotic missions, and to provide substantive, customized data-driven solutions to a broader audience.”

Metrics measuring attorney and law firm performance have increased in popularity. Corporate legal departments often use metrics to evaluate fees and costs paid to for legal work.