Pre/Dicta, which makes predictions about the outcome of federal lawsuits, today (11 January) announced that it has acquired defunct state judicial analytics platform Gavelytics, which shut shop in June last year due to insufficient funding.
The purchase, the terms of which were not disclosed, is said to dramatically shorten Pre/Dicta’s timeline for creating a tool that offers instant and accurate predictions for state courts across the country.
Gavelytics launched in California in 2017, and before ceasing operations, had expanded its geographic coverage to 25 states and the reach of its analytics to include not only data points on judges, but also law firms, lawyers, and litigants. It secured multiple patents and established customer relationships with a number of the world’s largest law firms and corporate legal departments, including those at leading insurance companies.
“This deal is a major milestone for Pre/Dicta and the entire field of predictive litigation analytics. With the acquisition of Gavelytics’ state court assets, Pre/Dicta Pre/Dicta has substantially accelerated the building of the litigator’s holy grail: a product that generates predictions for every lawsuit nationwide,” Pre/Dicta’s CEO Dan Rabinowitz said.
“We’re honoured to inherit the legacy of Gavelytics, which performed groundbreaking work in judicial analytics, and still more honoured that Rick Merrill will continue that work at Pre/Dicta.”
Launched in summer 2022, Pre/Dicta uses data science to predict whether a case will survive a motion to dismiss by identifying the factors that influence such a decision, including the presiding judge’s net worth, political affiliation, educational and work experience, and other biographical data points that are not intuitively significant and determine whether a case will move forward.
This intelligence can inform overall litigation and settlement strategy, forum shopping, transfers of venue, and resource allocation.
When Gavelytics founder Rick Merrill announced the cessation of operations at Gavelytics last year, he said: “We enjoyed some early success, but ultimately fell short. I will always be proud of our ambitious reach, even though it exceeded our grasp.”
Today, Merrill said: “Pre/Dicta created what I always dreamed of for Gavelytics; a litigation analytics platform that was forward-looking rather than backward-looking, that could make predictions and not just provide generic descriptive statistics.
“We are so pleased that the vision we had for Gavelytics can now be realised at Pre/Dicta.”
caroline@legaltechnology.com