Westlaw Edge Feature Update: Analytics
The launch of Westlaw Edge nearly one year ago was a major advancement in legal research. It provided legal professionals with AI-driven legal search, exclusive warnings for law that is no longer valid, unrivaled litigation analytics, and sophisticated research tools to help them deliver results to clients faster and more accurately.
One year later, the innovations keep coming as Thomson Reuters continues working closely with customers to mitigate the legal research problems they face. This week we’re highlighting how Thomson Reuters is integrating customer feedback into the product development process to make Westlaw Edge even better.
Today we focus on Litigation Analytics, which included almost 8 million federal dockets and 150 million state dockets when Westlaw Edge first launched. Customer input helped further strengthen Litigation Analytics – just six months after the initial rollout – with the addition of Precedent Analytics.
“Precedent Analytics allows researchers to derive key insights into a judge based on topics, the cases a judge regularly relies on and other judges he or she frequently cites,” explained Jeff Arvidson, director, Product Management for Thomson Reuters.
Precedent Analytics presents visualizations and insights relating to how individual judges cite to prior case law by leveraging the capabilities of the West Key Number System and KeyCite. It lets users better understand judges via analysis of their judicial experience and the reliance of the judge on key judicial rulings.
It’s just one in a lengthy list of Litigation Analytics enhancements. Other upgrades included the addition of state court reports – bringing total coverage to more than 190 state and federal courts – including the Delaware Court of Chancery, which has a national reputation for developing case law in Delaware on corporate matters.
Enhancements also included the addition of 15 more motion types, as well as the introduction of Case Events to the motions tab, which provides a visual representation of the events leading up to a judge’s ruling. Also, the Office Location filter now allows users to narrow results to specific office locations when searching by law firm.
Another milestone was recognition by the Minnesota High Tech Association, honoring Litigation Analytics with a Tekne Award. The prestigious honor recognizes innovation in software development to solve strategic business challenges, guide business decisions or enhance productivity and efficiency.
Even before all the enhancements, users appreciated how Litigations Analytics improved their workflow. A partner at a large law firm declared: “The only way to get to this level of information before was through a lot of searching. It was time consuming, and even then, you didn’t get the full picture. Litigation Analytics offers a shortcut, and provides a more complete picture.”
To learn more about Litigation Analytics, visit WestlawEdge.com. And visit our booth at the 2019 American Association of Law Librarians (AALL) Annual Meeting & Conference for a demo, or to attend a theater session or the deep dive panel session discussing analytics.
