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Data and Legal Analytics Assignment

Bloomberg Law Litigation Analytics

Bloomberg Law (https://www.bloomberglaw.com) has company, law firm, and judge analytics.

Company Analytics

1. You work at a law firm that handles employment law cases. You are trying to help your firm land
Raytheon Company as a client so you want to find out how many employment cases they
generally have and which law firms they currently employ.

a. In the last 5 years, what percentage of Raytheon’s cases (which have been filed in
federal court) have involved employment?

25.2%

b. In the last 5 years, which law firm has handled most of Raytheon’s employment cases in
the 9th Circuit (both District Court and Circuit Court cases)?

Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP

c. Briefly explain how this information is useful to a law firm trying to get some of
Raytheon’s legal business?

Firms can see how to compete better for Raytheon’s business. They can know which
firms are getting the most business and try to compete better with those firms (maybe
in terms of attorneys, specialists, etc).


Judge Analytics

2. You represent a client in a consumer law case that has been assigned to Judge Beth Freeman.
You want to get an idea about how she might rule on motions.

a. For consumer law cases in the last 5 years, what percentage of motions to dismiss has
she fully granted?

67.2%

b. For consumer law cases in the last 5 years, what percentage of her decisions have been
affirmed?

89.5%
 c. How is this information useful to you as the attorney in a consumer law case?

You can know that she is liberal with her granting of MTDs and she appears to be
correct most of the team. You better have a good case!

d. How would you find this information without some sort of analytics product?

I imagine I would have to go through everything she has ever ruled on and narrow from
there. Seems like a real nightmare!

Lexis Advance Analytics

Lexis Advance (https://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool) has legislative analytics and also judge, firm, and
attorney analytics.

Legislative Outlook

3. Lexis Advance has Legislative Outlook predictive analytics feature to give people an idea about
the chance of bills passing.

Retrieve 2018 Bill Text AZ H.B. 2328 which is about concealed weapons reports being
transmitted electronically. Click on Legislative Outlook in Detail.

a. What are the chances of the bill passing to the next stage?

95%

b. What are the chances of the bill being enacted?

95%

c. A press release about Legislative Outlook says the system makes predictions based on
“legislative patterns, key probability indicators, and historical patterns.” This is not very
specific information, but you can figure out what they mean by looking at the screen.
List 3 types of information the system seems to consider when making the predictions.

• The sponsor’s success rate
• Previous session’s success
• Success in previous committee and chamber

Analytics from Lex Machina

4. LexisNexis owns Lex Machina and has integrated some of its judge, firm, and attorney analytics
into Lexis Advance for certain patent and District Court cases.

Retrieve 917 F. Supp. 2d 985 which is about patent licensing. Retrieve the report for attorney
Brian William LaCorte. List 3 useful things you learned about Mr. LaCorte from this report.

1. He works exclusively on patent work (since 2015)
2. He works mostly in the District of Arizona
3. He does more defense work than plaintiff work

Ravel Law Analytics

Ravel Law (https://www.ravellaw.com) has firm, courts, and judge analytics.

Courts Analytics

5. Your client has offices all over California so you have a choice of where to file your employment
law case. You want to file it where you have the best chance of getting it certified as a class
action so you decide to compare jurisdictions.

a. For employment law cases in the last 5 years, what percentage of motions for
certification were fully granted in the Southern District of California?

36%

b. For employment law cases in the last 5 years, what percentage of motions for
certification were fully granted in the Northern District of California?

59%

Other

6. What are some possible pros and cons of using predictive analytics to determine whether to
remove children from their parents for child abuse/neglect?

Pros
• Algorithms may be able to detect outcomes we can not predict
• EfficiencyàLess manpower needed

Cons
• The end of humanity
• Issues like this should require a human element
• Algorithms may not get it right 100%
• Seems like a due process issue