When it comes to making litigation decisions, lawyers usually depend on their experience, research, and gut instincts, rather than hard data. That’s slowly changing, however, as more firms begin to embrace the use of data analytics when deciding how to pursue litigation.

Of course, startups and the media have been calling data analytics the future of the legal profession for years now. While data analytics are becoming more common, they still have a long way to go to meet their full potential.

The growth of massive, cheap storage and increased processing power has made the collection and analysis of big data easier than ever before. Instead of having your intern spend a week researching malpractice outcomes in the Southern District of New York, for example, you can use a company like Lex Machina to find out those same results in minutes.

So why don’t more firms use data analytics? Most of those analytics tools haven’t been accepted because they don’t have third-party validation, according to a recent report in Bloomberg BNA.

Questions Remain

Data analytics can also be complicated by the shear amount of variables involved in litigation. There are definite patterns for how certain judges and certain jurisdictions treat specific issues. For example, challenges to government regulations are much more likely to be successful in the D.C. Circuit than anywhere else. Juries are more sympathetic to criminal defendants in Brooklyn than in Manhattan. But when it gets down to more specific questions in litigation, predictions can be harder to make.

It’s also unclear how increased certainty would impact litigation. Currently, uncertainty about litigation outcomes often pushes parties to settle. But then again, uncertainty can also cause parties to overestimate their position.

Related Resources:

  • How Lawyers and Law Firms Operate in a Big Data World (Inside Counsel)
  • Analytics Now Being Used to Track Judges (FindLaw’s Technologist)
  • Fitbits, Wearable Tech, and the Impending E-Discovery Deluge (FindLaw’s Technologist)
  • Unstructured Data: 3 Tips for Mitigating Legal Risk (FindLaw’s Technologist)

You Don’t Have To Solve This on Your Own – Get a Lawyer’s Help

Civil Rights

Block on Trump’s Asylum Ban Upheld by Supreme Court

Criminal

Judges Can Release Secret Grand Jury Records

Politicians Can’t Block Voters on Facebook, Court Rules