As Bates White’s Chief Data Innovation Officer, Balaji Lakshmanan builds scalable data and artificial intelligence (AI) applications for clients and leads the firm’s initiatives in AI, including generative AI and large language models. In this Q&A, Mr. Lakshmanan explores his journey into data engineering and how he puts that passion to work delivering powerful client solutions.
Q. Tell us a bit about yourself and your journey into data engineering.
A. I've always had a deep interest in data, starting from my college days, when I worked with datasets in medical research and healthcare analytics. The bigger the datasets became, the more intrigued I was by finding efficient ways to analyze and extract insights from them. This curiosity naturally led me to explore big data technologies early on, and I adopted tools such as Hadoop and data warehousing platforms in my work. Along the way, I’ve developed a strong grasp of the data issues our clients deal with and the know-how to turn complex problems into clear, actionable insights.
Q. How do you apply your passion for all this at Bates White?
A. We use advanced data platforms to support clients in litigation and transactional matters—surfacing insights quickly, accelerating timelines, and strengthening analysis. I identify the bottlenecks in the data infrastructure, analysis methods, and technologies to make sure our teams are utilizing the appropriate tools and technologies to perform the task at hand. I manage a team of Software Engineers and Data Architects specializing in data analysis and management. We partner with our Client Services teams to deliver robust statistical and analytical solutions, particularly when dealing with extensive and complex datasets.
For example, projects involving mergers and antitrust often involve datasets of tens to hundreds of terabytes. At this scale, traditional review methods become financially and logistically unworkable. So we leverage specialized infrastructure and analysis methods to support the work. This capability sets us apart, and clients chose us for our data capabilities. There are many scalable solutions and powerful compute offered by cloud providers. We use some of the large cloud service providers to identify the right solution to solve the problem. That ensures the large-scale analyses are done as efficiently as possible.
Q. Can you provide an example illustrating the value your team brings to clients?
A. Recently, we supported a federal agency involved in litigation; our team was working with over a petabyte of data. The complexity and size required a multi-cloud approach for data storage, sharing, and analysis. As part of this project, we also had to share the data with a third-party shop that benefits our client. Being flexible in using similar tools as the third-party shop was important. We stored our data across AWS and Azure to facilitate data sharing with our client and the third-party shop. Since our team was skilled in all the technologies used, we dramatically reduced analysis time and cost while maintaining accuracy and data integrity.
Q. How do you ensure the consulting teams are equipped to use advanced data technologies effectively?
A. We invest heavily in internal training, led by our Data Engineers and Data Architects, to give our Economists and Consultants hands-on experience in big data analytics. This enables our consulting teams to automate large-scale data processing and deliver deeper analysis and stronger strategic insight for our clients and testifying experts.
Q. What measures do you take to ensure the security and privacy of your data stored in the cloud?
A. Bates White maintains stringent data usage policies and comprehensive security guidelines. We serve clients ranging from government agencies to multinational corporations in highly regulated industries. Protecting sensitive data is a core requirement that shapes how we manage, process, and secure client information.
For matters that rely on cloud computing, we store and process data in our secure cloud tenant to protect data integrity, adhering to top industry standards and compliances. Furthermore, we restrict access to cloud services exclusively from secure Bates White IP addresses. These proactive measures provide a secure, private, and compliant environment.
Our clients consistently benefit from top security measures and efficient data solutions, thanks to our team's unwavering dedication and professionalism in upholding these high standards. It’s a commitment that fills me with immense pride.
Q. What role does AI play in your work?
A. AI supports our consulting teams by helping them work more efficiently and deliver stronger results. But no matter the tool, we hold every output to the same standard: It must be transparent, reproducible, and meet our clients’ expectations for accuracy, rigor, and confidentiality.
Key applications include document summarization, text standardization, table extraction, and code assistance. For example, AI enables consultants to efficiently summarize complex, multi-hundred-page documents, extracting essential information within minutes.
To support this AI growth, we have established an AI committee comprised of members from various departments, tasked with making key decisions regarding AI governance and its future applications.