Alschner, Wolfgang, Legal Analytics (July 28, 2020). Forthcoming, AI and the Law in Canada, T. Scassa & F. Martin-Bariteau, eds. LexisNexis Canada, 2020, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3662196

“Lawyers across the world are beginning to use statistics, machine learning and data science to review contracts, investigate case law or predict judicial outcomes. This ability to mine law as data is known as legal analytics. Legal analytics promises to render legal analysis scalable as lawyers can quickly peruse hundreds, thousands or even millions of legal texts that would take months to read. Legal information thereby not only becomes more accessible, but legal services can be provided more efficiently and effectively helping to close the access-to-justice gap. Data and algorithms power such legal analytics. But whereas algorithms are often open source, access to legal documents such as statutes or cases in bulk is surprisingly restricted as data is often concentrated among a few large legal service providers. Creating a healthy eco-system for legal analytics to thrive thus requires open legal data, while protecting sensitive private information, as well as innovation and competition among providers.”