Sometime ago, I wondered whether and to what extent plaintiffs’ lawyers, most of whom work on a contingency basis as opposed to by the hour, were adopting technology. After all, it would make sense that any technology that would reduce time spent on a task should be appealing to those who use a business model with which the less time you spend on a project, the more you make.
It has since occurred to me that litigation data analytics would be particularly appealing to contingency fee lawyers since it would enable them to better assess exposure and likely results and the time needed to get to an end resolution. I have written before about the power of these kinds of analytics.
I recently had a chance to talk with Owen Byrd, Chief Evangelist and General Counsel of the data analytics company Lex Machina, about this issue. Lex Machina provides data based insights and analysis on judges, lawyers, law firms, parties, and other critical information across 12 federal practice areas and the Delaware Court of Chancery. (Lex Machina is part of LexisNexis, the global provider of legal, regulatory and business information and analytics). Byrd confirmed that Lex Machina, at least, sees plaintiffs’ lawyers as a significant marketing opportunity and is making a big push to get into the contingency fee market.
Litigation analytics is a great equalizer
Byrd sees litigation analytics as a great equalizer both for plaintiffs’ lawyers facing well heeled defense firms but also among plaintiffs’ firms competing for business with one another. In particular, smaller firms—be they plaintiff or defendant— often don’t have the data that analytical platforms like Lex Machina and its parent LexisNexis offer and don’t have the personnel needed to do the type of hand analytics to match the capabilities of bigger firms. He