Information Connection, 1219 WYBJ, Vol. 42 No. 7. 46
| Author | Tawnya Plumb Associate Law Librarian George W. Hopper Law Library |
| Position | Vol. 42 7 Pg. 46 |
Using Litigation Analytics in Your Practice: Litigation Analytics 101
Tawnya Plumb Associate Law Librarian George W. Hopper Law Library
Legal research vendors advertise products that incorporate big data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, but what does this mean? Simply put, machine learning software, a type of artificial intelligence (AI), runs algorithms on collected data and provides search results to predict future outcomes. To create the litigation analytics products described in this column, vendors run their algorithms on data pulled from PACER and other court docketing systems and make this information retrievable by a quick search.
Vendors collect data on motions, attorneys, law firms, judges, case types, and courts. A researcher may restrict a search to one of these headings or search within all results. Results frequently appear in eye-pleasing and interactive visual graphs and charts. Each product also offers its own way to filter results. Using this process, researchers can determine, by percentage, how often a particular motion (a motion to dismiss or summary judgement for instance) is granted or denied by a specific judge or court. One may also review how frequently an appeal is affirmed or reversed. It is also common to find a chart illustrating the case types that are typically handled by a specific attorney or law firm.
Accessing Litigation Analytics
Several legal research database providers incorporate litigation analytics into their platforms. Attorneys using Westlaw Edge have likely already seen advertising of its Litigation Analytics tool; this tool is automatically included in the Westlaw Edge product. Bloomberg Law automatically provides their Litigation Analytics module as part of its base subscription as well. Bloomberg Law includes company analytics in addition to legal analytics. An example of this is a result list of law firms that represent a particular company with a percentage breakdown on the types of legal issues handled. Lexis-Nexis acquired Ravel Law, a visually innovative platform, and re-branded Ravel Law's litigation analytics features as Context. Context is unique as it analyzes the language of the court documents themselves rather than just the docket itself. Context includes analytics on experts as well. Lexis Advance users will need to contact...
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