But until recently, the technologies used by lawyers did not allow us to automatically and scalably analyze and predict court decisions.
Therefore, since time immemorial, the work of lawyers and judges has consisted of studying and analyzing one by one the judicial precedents and leading cases –which are cases whose resolution initiates or changes a trend–; all this added to the study of legal books and publications to keep up to date.
The analysis and prediction of judicial decisions are done manually, one case at a time, based on the wealth of knowledge that lawyers and judges progressively incorporate throughout their professional lives and on the criteria of each professional. Nevertheless, this is changing.
As the volume and complexity of the cases to be resolved increases; it also increases the computational power and technological tools available. The quantitative analysis of law based on the combined use of technologies such as big data, business intelligence and machine learning allows legal professionals to analyze large amounts of data, identify key groups, patterns and trends, perform large-scale analysis of judgments and court cases, and even predict how the courts will resolve.
In this way, these exponential technologies promise to transform the work of lawyers and judges, since they will allow cases to be analyzed automatically, with a precision and scalability impossible to imagine in the past, with a more statistical perspective, focused on trends, patterns and risks.
These technologies allow transforming data into actionable information to make decisions quickly, with the least possible latency and uncertainty. This creates great opportunities for the legal sector and considerably improves the decision-making process.
For example, in 2017 JP Morgan announced that it had developed COIN (Contract Intelligence) software that automates document review for certain types of contracts. In a test, this software reviewed in seconds a number of contracts that cost lawyers more than 360,000 hours of review work. In addition to exponentially reducing review time for these contracts, the algorithm was more accurate than human lawyers.
This brings us to another key point of the industrial revolution 4.0, which is the invitation to rethink the future of work and professions through reskilling and upskilling processes.
In this sense, these technologies can expand the analytical capabilities of legal professionals, giving rise to a more statistical, strategic and creative legal profession, with a greater focus on risk management, on people and with greater added value.
The combination of exponential technologies such as big data, business intelligence and machine learning have the potential to re-evolve the way in which law is exercised, in which the courts work and justice is dispensed.
And so, in this way, make reality and honor the ideas of Oliver Wendell Holmes, for whom the purpose of the legal profession is, neither more nor less, than prediction.
Lawyer, entrepreneur and promoter. Founder and CEO of LexRock.
Source: Ambito
