In a recent Information Today article, Sean Fitzpatrick of LexisNexis discusses trends that will define the future of legal research as we know it. Humans create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data each day, and the cost of storing and maintaining each byte of data is declining. In fact, the growth of stored data is outpacing the ability of most people to manage it. Powerful tools, such as natural language processing and machine learning, are helping professionals bridge the gap between information overload and the ability to harvest the power of Big Data. Millennials now make up nearly one-third of the U.S. workforce and they are our most educated generation.

1. INFOTODAY.COM
Three Trends That
Will Define the Next
Horizon in Legal Research
H
umans create 2.5 quintil-
lion bytes of data each day,
and the cost of storing and
maintaining each byte of data is de-
clining. A McKinsey & Co. report es-
timated that all the digital songs in
the world could be stored on a drive
that costs around $600. The result
of more creation and lower stor-
age costs has been a doubling of the
world’s digitized data over the last 2
years. That’s a lot of new data.
In fact, the growth of stored data
is outpacing the ability of most peo-
ple to manage it. Information pro-
fessionals in all industries wrestle
with this overflow. Having more
data is not always a positive thing.
Work can suffer as it becomes more
difficult to sort through huge vol-
umes of information fast enough to
find what’s needed. It’s not surpris-
ing that knowledge managers want
a small number of places to quick-
ly find, easily understand, analyze,
and act upon trusted information.
And they want this while avoiding
risk and reducing costs.
Against this backdrop, emerging
technologies are helping profession-
als manage this growth and find
what they are looking for in the vast
sea of data. Powerful tools, such as
natural language processing and
machine learning, are helping pro-
fessionals bridge the gap between
information overload and the abili-
ty to harvest the power of Big Data.
These tools make it easier to work
with large volumes of information.
While still in their infancy, the tools
can, to an extent, intuit what users
are trying to find and then search
volumes of data, scan for major
trends, compare results, investigate
details, and present potential an-
swers, in context, allowing users to
understand the logic of an answer
and determine if it is appropriate
for their work. At the same time,
advancements in visualization tools
and techniques are making it easi-
er to quickly understand and derive
conclusions from Big Data sets.
While these changes have been
transpiring, more than 50 million
Millennials have entered the work-
force at the rate of about 4 million
per year. Millennials now make up
nearly one-third of the U.S. work-
force, and they are our most edu-
cated generation. Studies have
shown that their brains are wired
differently from those of employees
who came into the workforce before
the year 2000. They are more com-
fortable with disruptive technolo-
gies than their predecessors. They
possess a new level of digital dis-
cernment; they think differently
and possess skills and a sense of
familiarity that allow them to con-
fidently apply new technologies.
They have the skills to capture the
power of Big Data and effectively
use and develop Big Data tools.
These three trends—more data,
better Big Data tools, and skilled
Millennials—are emerging across
many industries, including the le-
gal profession. This means that
while fundamentals of the practice
of law—such as researching case
law, statutes, and secondary mate-
rials; formulating case strategies;
crafting compelling arguments;
and drafting documents to support
transactions—will remain, Big Da-
ta, the tools to harvest it, and the
emerging force of Millennials will
not only supplement the funda-
mentals, but create a new class of
research that will give those crafty
enough to embrace it an edge in
securing clients, controlling costs,
and achieving better outcomes.
The Right Tools
For example, there is a big differ-
ence between telling a client that fil-
ing a motion for summary judgment
is expensive and unlikely to be suc-
cessful versus telling him that on
average, in this district, summary
SEAN FITZPATRICK
INSIDER’SPERSPECTIVE
Sean Fitzpatrick is managing director of North American Research Solutions at LexisNexis
Legal & Professional. LexisNexis offers innovative analytical solutions that help customers
make smarter legal decisions, including the award-winning MedMal Navigator,Verdict &
Settlement Analyzer, Litigation Profile Suite, and CourtLink.
Reprint

2. INFOTODAY.COM
judgment is granted in 2% of simi-
lar cases, but the judge in your case
grants it, on average, 1% of the time,
and the average cost of the process in
a case such as this is $20,000. With
the latter information, an attorney
can more effectively counsel her cli-
ent, and the client can make a more
rational, fact-based decision. It is not
a substitute for judgment, but a sup-
plement that gives decision makers
better information to make a deci-
sion. Presenting similar facts about
cases, judges, or opposing counsel
can be a powerful tool in business
development as well and may help
an attorney stand out from her peers
when competing for business.
Tools such as natural language
processing help computers derive
the meaning from natural language
input. This technology has many ap-
plications in the legal world. It can
improve the effectiveness of search
efforts across multiple databases
that may be tagged or structured
in very different formats, for exam-
ple, when simultaneously searching
across a firm’s internal work prod-
uct and a database from a third-
party provider. The technology can
also better understand a query and
provide more accurate answers, di-
rect the user to more on-point cases,
or suggest related areas of law that
may be relevant based on the facts
of the matter under evaluation.
Machine learning is another
technology that will help lawyers
get to the right answer, faster and
with greater confidence. Sophisti-
cated algorithms that help attor-
neys find information already ex-
ist. Machine learning takes things
a step further by watching how us-
ers interact with the results, then
adjusting its own algorithms to be
more accurate when similar situa-
tions occur. Machine learning also
allows computers to learn the lan-
guage of the law, enabling them to
better understand the context of
queries and guide attorneys to the
right answer faster, while also iden-
tifying clusters of similar informa-
tion, allowing it to provide sugges-
tions about related points of law.
In summary, the growth of le-
gal data represents both a chal-
lenge and an opportunity. Big Data
may in fact be the new most valu-
able natural resource. To harness
the value of big legal data, we must
apply the emerging technologies in
this space and leverage the skills
of the Millennial generation. All
of this means more analytical so-
lutions that drive deeper insights
and better outcomes in less time
and at lower costs. The potential is
great. To realize it, we must have
the courage to lead our industry to
the next horizon. Our duty is not to
preserve what was given to us, but
to expand and improve it and dis-
cover new frontiers.
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