On March 20, 2022, Lex Machina partnered with the ABA on a CLE webcast called “Responsible Use of Legal Analytics.” The webcast featured Lex Machina’s in-house counsel Aria Nejad as the host, along with guest speakers Jessica Bengels (Director of Litigation Services at Latham Watkins), Steven Karg (Partner at Norris McLaughlin), and Eric Felsberg (Principal at Jackson Lewis). In this webcast, they discussed how Legal Analytics and big data revolutionized how lawyers conduct legal research and discovery, manage litigation strategy, evaluate opposing parties, and develop new business. They explored what it takes to create accurate litigation analytics and the risks of relying on incomplete data.

speakers

Eric Felsberg noted, “Analytics allows us to counsel our clients, help them peek around the corner. We also use analytics to actually help our clients manage the workplace, try to quantify some of the trends that they’re seeing in their workplace, so that we can give what we think is the appropriate advice in reaction to that.” He added, “In the early days of us using analytics, we had to take pains to put it into proposals, make sure to include it in discussions with potential clients and existing clients when a new matter arises . . . [now] the paradigm has shifted because if we don’t mention it, they will mention it. I think there’s an expectation, and I think Steven touched on this before when he was talking about how critical it is to the practice of law, the use of analytics. I think he’s exactly right.”

Steven Karg said, “We introduced Legal Analytics a number of years ago, and it’s very helpful, not only to litigation practice, but the practice as a whole. I’m a litigator, so I focus on that part. But Legal Analytics allows us to form a strategy with the client, give the client some idea of what to expect, manage costs.”

Aria Nejad added, “Here at Lex Machina, we don’t take a quick and dirty approach to anything. And that’s because we believe that there are three core principles that are required to build analytics you trust. It’s got to be accurate, it’s got to be complete, it’s got to be transparent. What that means is that not surprisingly analytics must be accurate, they must be complete and also there’s got to be transparency to the end user in how those analytics were created. And those things do build trust.”

For more, listen to a recording of the webcast on the ABA website.