You are preparing to negotiate the merger agreement. You’re preparing to negotiate a merger agreement.

You have a good idea of what your client wants in a deal and what the other side will demand. Current practices in similar transactions constitute a significant influence on corporate transaction negotiations. The great dividing line is “What’s the Market?” It’s important to avoid digging in your heels over a nice-to-have that doesn’t represent market practices.

So you do your research. You use the What’s Market tool from Practical Law to check market trends. You speak to your colleagues. Consider a few possible scenarios – what will happen if we concede? How can we achieve what we want on the most crucial provisions without compromising too much on others?

You are ready to start negotiating. You’re prepared to deal.

How can you convince your client to join the team?

You could invite the client’s team to a conference and review the data you have compiled. You can describe the raw data as well as your analysis. You can give them bullet points, statistics and hope they feel better about the decision.

You can also use a photo instead.

Data visualization can tell a story about a market’s trends.

Attorneys increasingly use visualizations to illustrate their points, particularly when they combine complex data into a powerful image. Stories and images are powerful tools for educating and moving people. For generations, attorneys have collected stories, traded them with colleagues, and repeated them to their clients. Getting a picture that tells a data-driven narrative about a legal issue has been challenging.

New tools are available for attorneys to make a point and influence a client quickly. To help them put their client’s needs into context against the overall market and develop more effective strategies. What’s Market Analytics provides data that can be used to advise attorneys on the best way to handle a case and how to negotiate specific points of an agreement.

One transactional lawyer told us, “I’d use this to negotiate.” He said clients want to see the trends, consider what they must do, and understand why specific terms or provisions are acceptable. What’s Market Analytics, for example, helps attorneys to communicate these nuanced issues with clients.

What is the secret to a good visualization?

Images and visualizations can influence attitudes, according to research. Harvard Business Review states, “Visual perceptual research has established that visual information is powerfully persuasive and irresistible in a way text and speech cannot.”

The visuals must be on point and appropriate.

It’s important to note that not all charts are created equal. In a presentation, time is limited, writes Scott Berinato for the Harvard Business Review. A poorly designed chart can save time by forcing the presenter into interpreting information that is meant to be noticeable. A data viz that can’t speak for itself has failed, just as a joke where the punchline has to be explained.

Not all charts are equal. What is Market Analytics? Practical Law provides depth and breadth on many topics, including:

Antitrust risk-shifting provisions

Federal merger enforcement actions

Public merger agreements

IPOs

License Agreements

Executive employment agreements

These visualizations were designed by experienced transactional lawyers who know clients’ questions and how to answer them compellingly. You can identify, review and compare deals, as well as general market trends, in a matter of clicks, instead of spending countless hours researching.

Data visualization can make your job easier.

Data visualization is a tool that tech-savvy lawyers use to simplify their research and understand the data. You can quickly establish boundaries and gain clients’ support with a tool such as What’s Market Analytics. This gives you more negotiating power and makes it easier to reach a successful agreement. Try it yourself and see the difference in your practice.