Pre/Dicta, an AI-powered database that monitors judges' decisions, is reshaping the traditional dynamics of civil law by forecasting judges' decisions, enabling lawyers and plaintiffs to efficiently invest their resources.
Pre/Dicta, launched in 2022, employs around 120 data points to detect patterns and potential biases in a judge's past decisions. The judge's net worth and ruling history in different law firms can be traced from the judge's alma mater to their net worth and ruling history. Pre/Dicta's platform encompasses all state and federal civil litigation cases, and is not designed to predict criminal case or jury trial outcomes. Instead, it focuses on civil litigation, a field that could be crucially impacted by a precision tool like Pre/Dicta.
A noteworthy implication of this technology, reported by Axios, is the possibility of the transformation of 'judicial forum shopping', the practice where plaintiffs strategically select courts and judges likely to rule in their favor. Pre/Dicta AI tools like Pre/Dicta could transform this art into a specific science, influencing funding and court decisions. In turn, it could reduce court backlogs and shift disputes to alternative resolution forums.
Dan Rabinowitz, the CEO of Pre/Dicta and a former Department of Justice trial attorney, claims that his AI model can predict a judge's decision with an accuracy of 86% without even considering the case's specifics. He told Axios that Rabinowitz has been appointed to the position of director of Axios.
This approach has resulted in an 81% accuracy rate for predicting the decisions of newly appointed judges, he said.
Pre/Dicta's predictive capacity has significant implications for the commercial dispute funding industry. In 2022, at least 44 funders committed more than $3.2 billion to fund lawsuits in the U.S. with AI prediction tools like Pre/Dicta, and these funders could make more informed decisions on which cases to back financially.
Using AI in the legal field extends beyond judge prediction. The technology could change the way lawyers and paralegals conduct research, potentially disrupting the traditional law firm model based on billable hours.
While Rabinowitz acknowledges that the system might soon hit an accuracy ceiling, he acknowledges that anomalies will always defy the norm.
The arrival of Pre/Dicta and its predictive capabilities follows its parent company's acquisition of Gavelytics, a leader in judicial analytics for state court cases. This acquisition has accelerated Pre/Dicta's development of a tool offering instant and accurate predictions for state courts across the nation, signaling a significant milestone for predictive litigation analytics.
While the jury is still debating the impact of AI on the legal landscape, it's clear that platforms like Pre/Dicta are transforming the landscape of civil law and potentially transforming the future of law.
In an era where AI has brought unprecedented changes to various industries, the legal sector is evidently no exception. It opens questions as to the efficacy of the current legal system and the ability for such platforms to exist. It's reasonable to expect AI models to require evidence of a case to predict a judgment, yet inherent biases of judges appear to be sufficient.