LexisNexis owned company, Lex Machina has introduced a new tool titled the ‘Litigation Footprint’, providing attorneys with visual maps that depict a party’s litigation history. The aim of this tool is to shed light on party relationships and trends in litigation that may otherwise not be evident. These insights can potentially influence the formulation of a litigation strategy or the acquisition of new business.
The ‘Litigation Footprint’ is constructed from the litigation histories of approximately 27 million cases filed in not only 94 federal district courts but in over 1,300 state courts across 34 states, including the District of Columbia. The Head of Product at Lex Machina, Carla Rydholm, explains that this virtually wide-angled view into the litigation activity of parties has been developed in response to customer requests.
In the creation of this product, Lex Machina expanded its database with 18 million additional state court records to the 9 million federal and state records already present. While most new records, mainly consisting of normalized names across different courts and jurisdictions, do not have the enhancements and tagging of Lex Machina’s existing data, they are nonetheless essential for the ‘Litigation Footprint’.
The user-friendliness of ‘Litigation Footprint’ allows attorneys to easily view a party’s map. Litigation footprints can be viewed by simply selecting a party (or parties) within the Lex Machina party-search tab. The result is a visual representation of separate federal and state court cases across the country. Furthermore, the tool allows users to export a report of all matters involving a certain party, including information about the case title, ID, party role and date filed. However, the current version does not support overlap searches between multiple parties.
Rydholm added that based on customer feedback, some direct applications for the ‘Litigation Footprint’ have been identified. These include Risk Profiles, Venue Trends, Communication for Legal Teams, Competitive Intelligence, and Business Development, to name a few.
Anticipating further refinement based on user feedback, Rydholm believes the introduction of this product is just a starting point. Since Lex Machina’s acquisition by LexisNexis in 2015, there has been a steady increase in its analytics coverage, encompassing more practice areas and an expansion to state courts. With the current total standing at 18 million, Lex Machina aims to continue expanding the number of cases in its database.
In summary, the ‘Litigation Footprint’ is a significant addition to Lex Machina’s toolkit, empowering legal professionals with richer insights into litigation histories and potentially influencing strategic decision-making.
The complete article can be found here: Lex Machina’s New ‘Litigation Footprint’