Episode 5: TEXTSPLIT – Quick Data Cleanup

Split text instantly, no extra steps

Messy data is a common challenge in legal environments. Exports from practice management systems, billing platforms, and case tools rarely arrive in a clean, analysis-ready format.

• Names combined in one cell.
• Codes grouped together.
• Comma-separated fields that need separating before they can be used.

Traditionally, this meant:

• Text to Columns
• Complex formulas
• Or manual rework

TEXTSPLIT simplifies all of this.

This instantly separates text into individual components based on a chosen delimiter (in this case, a hyphen).

Why this matters for legal teams

Legal operations and finance teams regularly work with:

• Client and matter exports
• Billing data
• Time recording reports
• External system downloads

Using TEXTSPLIT helps by:

✔ Reducing manual data preparation
✔ Improving accuracy when restructuring data
✔ Saving time on repetitive cleanup tasks
✔ Making downstream analysis far more efficient

Practical legal applications

• Splitting first and last names
• Separating matter codes or references
• Cleaning exported billing narratives
• Preparing data for reporting and dashboards

At Baskerville Drummond LLP, we often see that the biggest inefficiencies in reporting start with data preparation.

Functions like TEXTSPLIT remove that friction – allowing teams to focus on analysis rather than formatting.