Part 1: Demystifying the PACER Services Marketplace, Analytics

Highlights

• LexisNexis, a company that acquired Ravel Law and Lex Machina, provides an overlay of PACER data, and adds a graphical analysis of caseload statistics, motion data, and judicial analytics. 
• Thomson Reuters' Monitor Suite is a product that provides valuable data insights, but the interface is older and report generation can be slow. 
• Bloomberg Litigation Analytics is a newer provider that offers quickly rendered reports and dynamic graphs but lacks the breadth of Thomson Reuters’ Monitor Suite or LexisNexis offerings. 
• Firms only get value from these solutions when they have in-house expertise that can get value out of the features and challenge the results to ensure they meet firm needs. 
• If you do not have a large library team, you do not need all the tools, you may not need any of the tools. Absent a knowledgably researcher, attorneys can easily be misled. 

Summary

Jeremy Sullivan led the discussion on analytics. As he described it, analytics are a step beyond research, using data to identify trends. With more than one billion court records (and counting) available through PACER, the key is to first understand your use case, and then to understand your vendors. Each has its own quirks and limitations, but also offers great opportunities. 

 He covered the three main vendors that provide analytics: LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters, and Bloomberg Law.  

 LexisNexis, bolstered by its acquisition of Ravel Law and Lex Machina, provides an overlay of PACER data, and adds a graphical analysis of caseload statistics, motion data, and judicial analytics, among other things. Some of Ravel’s features are integrated into the Lexis platform, while Lex Machina is a stand-alone product that has expanded its offerings, practice area coverage, and jurisdiction coverage (now including some state data). The positive of Lexis products is the large array of offerings; the negative is that, given the number of options and features, it can be difficult to figure which products and features to use, and how each works. 

 Thomson Reuters’ Monitor Suite is a more monolithic product providing similar valuable data insights, but the interface is older and report generation can be a bit slow. There are also issues with data normalization. For example, sometimes lawyer names might not be associated with law firm names, so the raw data in reports cannot always be relied upon. You will often need a human analyst to review the data and massage it to ensure that you are getting an accurate picture of the data.  

 Bloomberg Litigation Analytics is a new provider among the three. It has made significant strides in recent years. It is easy and quick for users because of its dynamic graphs, reports which are rendered quickly with valuable data at your fingertips - but it cannot provide everything you will find on Lexis or TR Monitor Suite platforms. 

 Firms can use just one resource, but there will be shortcomings because of discrepancies among offerings. In addition, firms may need staff with expertise in these platforms, so they have proficiency over their quirks and issues noted above as well as how to best use them effectively. While we know this is not always possible with resource constraints, it does mean firms should prioritize needs with subject matter experts when seeking out service providers. 

About the Webinar:

On June 7, 2022, the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) hosted a webinar called Demystifying the PACER Services Marketplace, From Docketing to Analytics that helped explain and clarify the service options from various vendors. It was moderated by well-known legal tech journalist Bob Ambrogi, who was joined by a knowledgeable and experienced panel of legal professionals: 

• Jeremy Sullivan, Manager of Competitive Intelligence and Analytics at DLA Piper
• Marshall Voizard, Reference Supervisor at Hughes Hubbard & Reed
• JoAnn Buss, Senior Docket Analyst at Cooley
• Stephanie Goutos, Practice Innovation Attorney at Gunderson Dettmer 

Each panelist covered one of the four main categories of PACER-related services offered by various providers: Analytics, Docketing, Tracking & Alerts, and Electronic Case Filing Automation. Due to the number of PACER tools on the market today, it can be confusing when they overlap to truly determine which ones are best for your organization.