The market is a potentially lucrative one for the platform as commercial litigation generates more than $6 billion in billings by law firms in the US annually. The new module has been designed to enable commercial litigators to make data-driven decisions based on detailed information about more than 62,000 commercial cases pending since 2009. Strategic insights include trends in case timing, resolutions, findings, damages, and remedies, as well as actionable intelligence on opposing counsel, law firms, parties, judges and venues, according to the company.

Interviewed commercial litigators

As part of the product development process, Lex Machina interviewed commercial litigators from top law firms and major corporations to better understand their particular analytics use-cases. To meet the needs of commercial litigators, Lex Machina has added new features with practice area-specific tags such as: Expanded case timing analytics; New damages categories; New breach of contract and business tort findings. Commercial cases also have relevant general litigation tags, including orders for contested dismissal or summary judgment, declaratory judgment, multi-district litigation, class action, jury trial, bench trial, and appeal.

'A crucial role'

Josh Becker, CEO of Lex Machina, said: ‘Legal Analytics plays a crucial role in helping lawyers unravel the complexity of commercial litigation by providing them with relevant data and information they can use to quickly make informed business and legal decisions and provide better counsel for their clients.’

'Unlock a welath of new insights'

Similarly, Karl Harris, CTO of Lex Machina, added that the addition of multiple tags specific to commercial litigation ‘will unlock a wealth of new insights that have never been available before’.