Vendors, providers (e.g., firms), and clients are quickly and broadly moving towards standardizing with SALI tags — improving legal-services classification and delivery. The industry is collectively implementing SALI tags to gain insights about legal work, and those 10,000+ tags serve as the industry’s common language, improving outcomes and value.

Why does SALI matter?

Here’s an example of the problem that SALI is solving.

1. Your organization spends many hours tagging work with `PTAB Appeals` tag — and you're proud of your success!
   
   

2. But then you try to interact with other systems (e.g., Thomson Reuters, Docket Alarm, NetDocuments, Foundation, Intapp), but if you want to push/pull data to/from them, 

   1. They don't have a `PTAB Appeals` tag

   2. So you'll have to add all your tags manually​.

   3. And then it's bespoke to your firm: 

      1. As those systems (e.g., TR, Docket Alarm) get new `PTAB Appeals` documents, you won't get them. 

      2. Because your newly created tag is bespoke/unique/non-interoperable.
         
         

3. Even worse, after looking at SALI, you realize that `PTAB Appeals` is a less-than-optimal tag!  

   1. Wouldn't it be better to tag it this way?

      1. Area of Law = Patent Law

      2. Service = Appellate Practice

      3. Forum/Venue = PTAB
         
         

   2. And with those three tags, you're able to run much better queries — that are more granular!

      1. "Show me all Patent matters."

      2. "Show me all Appeals."

      3. "Show me all PTAB matters."

      4. "Show me all PTAB Appeals." (Two tags: Forum:PTAB + Service:Appeals)
         
         

4. Then you realize, "Oh, SALI is smart. I should align my taxonomy/ontology with theirs — especially since the entire industry is rallying around SALI, making it easier to interoperate!"

Rationale for legal industry standards

Industry standards have been around a very long time. Their purpose is to enable a more effective and efficient market for a product or service.

Standards come about when industry participants recognize that a there is no real competitive advantage to having custom and unique specifications. Industries standardize when they realize that the lack of a standard hinders the market, and limits innovation and creativity.

Standards have value for all participants in the market, from raw material companies, to manufacturers, to supply chains, and especially the ultimate consumers. The costs of consumer products would be dramatically higher absent multitudes of standards. A legal matter standard will help in the sourcing of legal services.

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