Image [cc] Giulia Forsythe |
There are very few legal research and analytic platforms that are truly unique, ground-breaking, advantage-giving resources. One of the newer products out there that does seem to fit this category is Lex Machina. Although I’m still not sure the proper pronunciation of the “Machina” (is it “Mah-CHEE-Na” or “Mak-IN-ah” or “Mah-KEEN-ah”?? ), it is one of the few products where I’ve heard lawyers from multiple firms say it is a “must have” as part of their IP litigation arsenal. In fact, when talking with an IP Lawyer at a conference once, that lawyer said “I was tired of getting my ___ kicked by a firm that was using it, so we had to bring it into our firm to level the playing field.”
[Note: the folks at Lex Machina set me straight, it’s pronounced “Mah-Kee-Nah”]
Products like Lex Machina, and Neota Logic are really just scratching the surface of what data analytics and logic-based processing can do to help better position attorneys in understanding, planning, and overall strategy of handling legal matters.
Lex Machina is launching a new tool, and is presenting a webinar today at 2:00 PM Eastern, that describes the Legal Analytics platform and how law firm and in-house counsel can use this in their strategy of protecting and defending their IP resources. If you haven’t had a chance to look at Lex Machina before, this webinar might be a great place to start. I’ve put the webinar information and press release below.
Whether you call something like this big data analytics, or computer-based mining and logic, or adaptive learning resources, products like Lex Machina are the wave of the future. Leveraging huge amounts of data, computer processing, analytics, advanced algorithms, and human interaction is slowly creeping into the legal research market. What is really interesting is that these advancements are coming from the smaller companies, not the big ones. Now, whether they get acquired by the big players is yet to be seen, but probably inevitable. Not to worry, though. I’m sure there are others at Stanford, MIT, and in basements and garages that are working on the next big advancement in legal research and analytics. I, for one, look forward to seeing what’s next.