Updated: With the emergence of generative artificial intelligence, many traditional software categories have been reinvented. Legal software has not been immune from this impactful change. Over the past few years, AI has been increasingly embedded into tools that support legal workflows, and the result has been improved functionality that increases the overall intuitiveness and value of legal software.

The next generation of litigation analytics

Litigation analytics software is no exception to this trend. This category of software has changed significantly since I last wrote about it in 2020. The addition of more sophisticated AI capabilities, including generative AI, to some platforms, has supercharged the output. As a result, this category of software is even more appealing than ever to litigation attorneys and their teams.

Since the rollout of ChatGPT in November 2022, improved AI capabilities have impacted new and existing litigation analytics tools, noticeably increasing competition in this space. With this influx of AI-enabled products comes the challenge of sifting through the many choices available to identify the tool that is the best fit for your law firm’s needs.

That’s where this article comes in. I’ll provide an overview of this software category, tips for choosing the right tools, and a rundown of top contenders in the space.

The how and why of litigation analytics

Litigation analytics software quickly sifts through court records, filings and other public and private datasets, providing users with organized insights about judges, case outcomes, attorneys, expert witnesses and more. This technology helps legal professionals identify the patterns and trends that influence the direction of a case, providing for more informed strategy development.

With the addition of generative AI, these tools go beyond traditional data sorting. Generative AI capabilities enable the software to not only organize and analyze data but also generate summaries, predict potential outcomes, and offer strategic recommendations based on historical trends and similar cases. For example, the software can highlight patterns in a judge’s previous rulings or identify the likelihood of success for certain motions.

This enhanced functionality enables legal teams to reduce the time spent on manual research and data analysis. Using real-time, AI-powered insights, lawyers can make more informed decisions, improving the accuracy and efficiency of case preparation. Whether forecasting a case’s outcome or identifying trends in opposing counsel’s litigation tactics, these tools help legal professionals optimize their strategies from start to finish. The result is not just improved workflow efficiency but an increase in data-driven decision-making that can have a direct impact on litigation success.

Evaluating AI tools for litigation analytics

Before exploring new AI-powered software, you’ll have to first evaluate your firm’s current tech choices. Software vendors often introduce updates or may be in the process of forming partnerships that enhance the platforms that are already used in your firm, which could potentially add the features you’re seeking. Checking with your firm’s trusted providers before evaluating other tools can save time and resources by avoiding redundant purchases.

If you determine that a new solution is necessary, the next step is to clearly define the problems you have to solve. Review your firm’s current tech to identify gaps in your IT stack and uncover workflow inefficiencies. Make sure to involve team members who will use the software, so that you better understand their pain points and preferences. Their input will ensure a smoother adoption process and alignment with day-to-day operations.

Once you have a clear sense of your needs, research available tools. The list of litigation analytics platforms below is a good starting point. Take advantage of free trials or demos to test functionality and determine whether the software integrates well with your existing systems and workflows.

Security and compliance are also essential considerations when adopting AI tools. Your firm’s ethical obligations require careful vetting of any third-party provider that handles your firm’s confidential information. Confirm how client data will be handled, stored and backed up. Determine who will have access to it and under what circumstances.

Additionally, because analytics tools depend on firm data, ensuring robust data security is critical. While vendors often claim to protect data, you should verify the protections in place and assess whether the steps taken meet professional and regulatory standards.

When researching AI tools, another security factor to consider is whether the provider uses your firm’s data inputs to further train its AI models. Current ethics guidance suggests that confidential data should not be used for this purpose.

Finally, evaluate the AI tool’s accuracy and reliability. Consider how well it performs tasks, such as analyzing court data and predicting litigation outcomes, ensuring that it complements rather than complicates your litigation strategy. With these factors addressed, your firm will be better equipped to adopt a solution that enhances efficiency and litigation management.

With that advice in mind, let’s review some generative AI-enhanced litigation analytics tools. Understand that this list is not all-inclusive. Additionally, offerings from large legal tech companies, like Thomson Reuters, LexisNexis and vLex, are excluded. Each of these companies provides large-scale generative AI platforms that include litigation analytics data, so if your firm has these tools in place, it’s worth learning more about these capabilities and their costs before investing in a stand-alone option.

The cost of most legal analytics software depends on subscription models, features and firm size and is often negotiated with the vendor. However, if pricing is available on the company’s website, it will be included below.

Litigation analytics software with AI capabilities

First, there’s Trellis, which is a state trial court research and analytics platform. It provides access to court dockets and the judicial rulings of most states. Trellis offers insights into judges, opposing counsel and their firms and case outcomes. Pricing starts at $129.95 per month for up to three accounts.

LegalMation is an AI-driven tool that automates the litigation process. It generates legal documents and provides data analytics for litigators. The analytics provided draw from datasets that include external sources, such as court dockets, along with a firm’s internal data and documents. Reports provided include a risk index, outcome and cost predictions and counsel comparisons.

Another option is Premonition, an AI-driven litigation data and analytics platform. It predicts motion outcomes and provides insights into lawyers, firms, companies, judges and courts, offering comprehensive data coverage and detailed analysis of various litigation participants.

Finally, Pre/Dicta collects, classifies and analyzes the entire federal docket and every judge’s unique personal attributes, including age, gender, resumé/background and political affiliation. Then, using what it calls “predictive AI,” it predicts the success or failure of a motion to dismiss before that judge.

Maximizing litigation teams’ efficiency with AI

We are in a fast-moving era of technological advancements, and ignoring AI is not an option. Instead, position your firm for long-term growth by investing in AI-powered software that streamlines your teams’ litigation workflows and supports strategic decision-making.

The data-driven insights will improve courtroom outcomes and enhance client satisfaction, enabling your firm to stay ahead of the competition. The bottom line: There’s no better time than now to explore AI solutions that will empower your legal team for future litigation success.

---

Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York-based attorney, author and journalist, and she is the principal legal insight strategist at MyCase, a company that offers legal practice management software for small firms. She is the nationally recognized author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers and is co-author of Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier, both published by the American Bar Association. She writes regular columns for ABAJournal.com and Above the Law, has authored hundreds of articles for other publications, and regularly speaks at conferences regarding the intersection of law and emerging technologies. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @nikiblack, or she can be reached at [email protected].

---

This column reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily the views of the ABA Journal—or the American Bar Association.

---

Updated Oct. 29 at 9:29 a.m. to clarify wording for the Pre/Dicta litigation analytics software.

As the co-founder of CountryWide Debt Relief, Josh Blandi targeted a specific group of consumers who were struggling financially amid the Great Recession but didn’t qualify for bankruptcy.

The Santa Ana, California-based company, which launched in 2008, helps them consolidate and eliminate their debt. It also assists those who are being sued by their creditors by connecting them to attorneys who can help with debt defense settlements.

Blandi, 45, who studied biology at Hawaii Pacific University before becoming an entrepreneur like his father and grandfather, realized these consumers finished their programs feeling most satisfied, and he hoped to find others facing lawsuits. 

“We went to Westlaw, we went to Lexis, trying to see if we could get a feed of that type of data in a more real-time fashion,” says Blandi, who is still a CountryWide shareholder. “At that time, it really wasn’t possible. So we said, ‘You know what? We’ll start building our own system to collect this from the courts themselves.’”

This idea sparked the creation in 2014 of UniCourt, which gives law firms and businesses real-time access to court records and legal data for case research and tracking, business development, competitive intelligence and various other purposes. 

To provide what’s known as Legal Data as a Service, UniCourt built a platform that collects information about cases, attorneys, law firms, parties and judges from hundreds of state and federal courts, then organizes and standardizes it. The company makes this data available for bulk download via its application programming interfaces, which allow law firms and businesses to integrate the data into their document management and workflow systems.

In addition to the legal industry, UniCourt, which operates with nearly 200 employees, offers its services to the finance, insurance, investigations and media industries and to consumers. It provides access to many court records for free online and offers monthly subscriptions starting at $49.

“One of the most surprising things about UniCourt is it’s a huge business-to-consumer platform,” says Jeff Cox, an attorney and the company’s director of content. “We get 2.5 million people per month coming to check out our free content. It’s lawyers and law firms, but it’s also consumers who need access to information.”

As UniCourt evolved, Blandi encouraged the company to spend more time developing entity normalization, which seeks to tie names in court records to real-world entities. As one example, it recognizes different spellings of an attorney’s name and connects them to the same person. 

UniCourt, based in Tustin, California, also has released a second version of its APIs that enables a user to move easily between a case and analytics on connected entities. It provides access to new analytics—such as case counts by court, time period, case type, attorney, law firm, party and judge—and it introduces new search query language. 

Blandi contends that if he had gone directly into tech, he might not have been as successful. “The opportunity that legal tech presented was because it was so far behind the rest of technology,” he says. “There was so much green pasture, and I still believe there is so much green pasture for people to contribute using technology within the legal sector.”

Blandi spends his free time away from electronic devices surfing, camping and enjoying the outdoors.

Legal Rebels Class of 2023

Stacy Butler

Josh Blandi

Zachariah DeMeola

Sonja Ebron and Debra Slone of Courtroom5

Natalie Anne Knowlton

Uzoma Orchingwa and Gabriel Saruhashi of Ameelio

Patrick Palace

Janis C. Puracal

In This Podcast:

There are plenty of judicial analytics and litigation prediction tools on the market. They may have differences in execution and focus, but the general rule of thumb is that they look at a judge’s past rulings and opinions to predict how that judge might rule on a similar motion or case in the future.

For instance, you can look up how a particular judge on prior motions to dismiss on certain employment discrimination cases to get an idea how they might rule on a similar one currently pending in their courtroom. That knowledge can be important for lawyers. It lets them evaluate their case and determine whether it’s worthwhile to go to trial or settle, and they can also provide the client with some certainty as to how much that it will cost them based on what they’ve charged in the past for similar matters.

But then judicial analytics tool Pre/Dicta, which is AI-powered litigation prediction software, launched in 2022 with a different approach. In addition to looking at rulings and jurisprudence, Pre/Dicta also examines a judge’s political affiliation, net worth, area of residence, career and other personal and demographic data.

In this episode of the Legal Rebels Podcast, Dan Rabinowitz, the CEO and co-founder of Pre/Dicta, talks with the ABA Journal’s Victor Li about what sets Pre/Dicta apart from its competitors, as well as the field of judicial predictive analytics and where it’s heading.