In this insightful episode of the Innovation In Compliance podcast, Tom Fox welcomes Zachary Coseglia, the founder of the Ropes & Gray Insights Lab, to talk about the creation of the unique consultancy within the law firm. Zach dives into the challenges of building a team with diverse skill sets and backgrounds for a new function like the Insights Lab. He shares the value of data analytics for compliance, and how it can be used to improve investigations and understand patterns of behavior across the organization. Zach also highlights the complexities of working in-house, including managing relationships and understanding organizational intricacies.
With over a decade of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, healthcare, and life sciences, Zach Coseglia built a strong background in investigations, compliance analytics, and digital compliance. During his time as head of investigations in Asia Pacific for Pfizer, he came up with the idea to create an analytics and behavioral science consultancy within a law firm, which led to the birth of the Insights Lab.
Key takeaways from the episode include:
- Building an analytics consultancy within a law firm or compliance department requires investment in technology and human capital. Zach brought together people with diverse skill sets, backgrounds, and experiences to build a team that reflects the needs of the consultancy being created. He combined subject matter expertise of compliance and data analytics to build the team for the Insights Lab.
- Zach believes that to build a successful analytics consultancy within compliance, it’s important to bring in people who have done this work in other industries. He stresses that they can bring unique perspectives and experiences that can drive innovation and progress within the organization.
- The potential of data analytics to promote a better, stronger compliance program through identifying trends, patterns of behavior, and driving efficiencies.
- Zach reflects on his experience working in-house and highlights the challenges of managing relationships and understanding organizational intricacies. He stresses the importance of effective relationship building and an intentional and strategic approach to building new capabilities or functions within an organization.
- Compliance is a deeply human discipline that involves shaping human behavior through policies, procedures, training, and programs. Behavioral science, cultural psychology, and behavioral economics play a critical role in compliance and ethics work.
- Compliance programs that only focus on rules are short-sighted.
- Human-centered design is a powerful approach to building effective compliance programs that engage with people and amplify their voices.
- The Insight Lab at Ropes and Gray is a consultancy, analytics, behavioral science, and creative consultancy that aims to combine multidisciplinary expertise under one roof. The lab includes a team of lawyers, data journalists, ethics experts, journalists, and specialists in cultural psychology and behavioral science. The lab has expanded beyond compliance consulting to focus on areas such as organizational culture, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and environmental social governance (ESG).
- The team’s multidisciplinary approach can shape the future of legal work, and the lab has the potential to be a large, powerful business for Ropes and Gray.
- Law firms are embracing multidisciplinary teams and creating their own consulting groups, with some firms recognizing the value of analytics and behavioral science consultancies.
- The legal profession could benefit from acknowledging that other disciplines can help make it stronger.
- Zach Coseglia and Hui Chen have started a podcast called “There Has to Be a Better Way?” which is an innovation and curiosity podcast focused on identifying better ways and people who are finding their own better ways to solve organizational challenges, such as compliance, ethics, risk, diversity, equity, inclusion, and organizational culture.
KEY QUOTES:
“I think that there’s a huge opportunity for us to embrace behavioral science, to embrace a more scientific point of view, to embrace the world of data in ways that actually advance our profession.” – Zach Coseglia
“With all of the data we had available to us, we have this opportunity to understand human behavior in ways that go beyond just the rules.” – Zach Coseglia
“I have felt for a long time that compliance is being treated – has been treated – as this exclusively legal, regulatory, enforcement-related exercise oftentimes led by lawyers, when in fact, compliance is a deeply human discipline.” – Zach Coseglia
Resources:
Zach Coseglia at R&G Insights Lab | LinkedIn
Ropes & Gray Insights Lab | Podcast: There Has to Be a Better Way?
