Lex Machina

Attorneys now can datamine millions of documents with a focus on comments and actions by judges to determine predictability. Lex Machina, Ravel Law, Bloomberg Law and other new big data services are some of the providers of these tools.

Big data now provides lawyers statistics on average wait times before a trial or chances of a case being dismissed under a particular judge. Since 2011 for example, motions by San Francisco based U.S. District Judge Susan Illston were examined. 48% of the time she dismissed in full. Denials for motions in full were 24.5%.

The economics of this are game changing. It eliminates hours of monotonous research given to junior lawyers or law librarians. The tools now allow these individuals to do far more than was possible from their previous assignments.