Kamil Budny, a Cisco legal intelligence lead based in Poland, works diligently to help lawyers that he doesn't know defend people that he'll never meet by using data that they never knew had value—until now.

Kamil is part of Cisco's Legal Operations team, a global group of more than 50 professionals who support the Cisco Legal team behind the scenes with analytics, project management, and more. "Most nonprofits don't have a problem finding pro bono legal help that is good at understanding and dissecting the legal process, Kamil says, "but many lack the perspective of how data-driven decision making can help them make a bigger impact."

This is where the legal ops team comes in. Its work with the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley demonstrates how data can create insights that, in turn, improve access to justice.

The relationship between legal ops and the Law Foundation began with a search engine optimization (SEO) assignment to make the organization easier to find in a sea of sponsored links and law firm websites. "That turned into a conversation about how we could help them analyze the reams of data they have, specifically around the incarceration of people who have certain issues, and learn more about what they can do to help those people. The Law Foundation wanted to know how race, gender, substance use, citizenship status, and other things impact hearing outcomes," Kamil explains.

Hundreds of thousands of records—7 years of data—were sorted and studied to find statistically significant patterns that could help the Law Foundation create customized client defense strategies. "We're trying to make some sense of unconscious bias and react to that," Kamil says.

The team is currently working on a new project for the Law Foundation, analyzing how being unhoused may penalize defendants in Silicon Valley courts. "It's more complicated because the data the Foundation is providing involves reaching out to government agencies and nonprofits across California, and reporting isn't consistent across agencies," Kamil says. But because "math is a universal language that can help us answer questions," he's confident that his team will extrapolate the knowledge they seek to assist the Law Foundation in defending clients more effectively—even from half a world away. 

Brooke Heymach, directing attorney of pro bono at Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, reflects: "The Law Foundation of Silicon Valley is thrilled to have Cisco Legal Operations as one of our pro bono partners. Their diverse expertise and practice areas have helped the Law Foundation in myriad ways from cell phone forensics to website design. Kamil's data science knowledge has allowed us to tackle projects we did not have the resources to imagine. By analyzing client and case data, he and team have revealed patterns of discrimination we can highlight to better address systemic issues affecting our clients. This type of data analysis also helps influence policymakers as we advocate for more equitable laws. We are incredibly thankful to Cisco and the legal ops team for donating their time and skill to these impactful projects."