New Ropes & Gray Consulting Group Focuses on Behavioral Science

Ropes & Gray has launched a new consulting group, with help from a former Pfizer compliance executive, that aims to offer data analytics and behavioral science services to help clients achieve regulatory compliance in an era where crises like the coronavirus pandemic are creating new risks.

Ropes & Gray has tapped Zachary Coseglia, assistant general counsel and head of global compliance monitoring, analytics and digital at Pfizer, as managing principal and head of innovation at the new R&G Insights Lab.

He will lead the team alongside Ropes & Gray partner Amanda Raad, who also co-chairs the firm’s anti-corruption and international risk practice, and Will Rosen, managing partner of the firm’s London office.

Adding a behavioral science and data element to law firm offerings is an unusual move, but many Big Law firms are seeking to diversify the services offered to their clients beyond short-term assistance focused on one given issue or problem.

The idea for the R&G Insights Lab germinated long before the coronavirus pandemic, according to its leadership, but the crisis certainly accelerated its launch.

“We thought we could be really helpful at a time when there’s so much change and instability going on that we could really help our clients navigate these issues,” Raad said.

Raad said the U.S. Justice Department and regulators in U.K. have made it clear that they expect companies to use data for compliance and risk assessment, but that they would also like to see them monitor compliance with regulations and track data on a continuous basis going forward.

She explained historically, companies seeking help dealing with regulatory issues hire an outside lawyer who conducts a risk assessment, reviews and changes policies and procedures, and perhaps conducts some trainings, but the advice and support often end there.

“We see [R&G Insights Lab] as the best way to be the best advisers we can possibly be to our clients across the board because we think we’re leaving them short when we just come in and problem solve for the narrow issue,” she said.

The Insights Lab will mirror Coseglia’s own creation in his legal department at Pfizer, which he said sought to find “analytically-powered, human-centered and digitally enabled solutions” to its risk management challenges.

For example, in the risk space, the Lab will help organizations build more data-driven monitoring solutions and data-driven risk assessments. They will also help deploy trainings, policies, and governance.

There’s also the opportunity to be winning work that the firm might not have been able to compete for before, he said.

“We have this different offering that is not only merging legal, behavioral science, analytics, and strategic consulting into one single offering in ways that really are demanded,” Coseglia said, but also bringing “entirely new expertise” to the table that clients may not have thought to seek out at a law firm.