Litigation lawyers are commonly believed to be in the toughest legal sector as their work is one of the most demanding. To add to that technology has created a problem by building an overwhelming volume of data that is exponentially more expensive to deal with in litigation. A common example of this is needing to compile digital communication for discovery or reviewing thousands of documents for a matter. As such, litigators spend the majority of their working hours on discovery, collecting and organizing documents and legal research. With technology having started this problem for litigation lawyers, it is now seeking to resolve the very same problems with software. We have put together a review of software that can help litigation lawyers tackle these challenges.
We have more articles on tackling problems for specific practice areas as well that you can check out here.
Alexsei is a web based legal research software that allows lawyers and paralegals to get answers to their legal research questions using automation. This software looks to cut down on un-billed legal research hours to improve profitability and efficiency in law firms. To do this, Alexsei uses a combination of proprietary artificial intelligence and real life experience of other lawyers to provide precise answers to legal questions.
To start using this software, users can type their research question in the issue tab, and provide additional background information that will help narrow the research.
For example, the question could be “What is the limitation period for the enforcement of a Builder’s Lien?” With the additional facts being how this question was raised, the more information provided, the more narrowly the question can be answered.
Once the question is submitted it will take 24 hours to receive a response. If the user is not satisfied with the response received, another memo will be generated free of charge or a refund is offered. This is to ensure lawyers can submit their questions with confidence, without the risk of spending money without being guaranteed results.
Each memo generated using Alexsei will be formatted into five sections. The first two will include the question submitted by the lawyer and additional information provided that gives context to the question. The third and fourth section includes a summary of the key points of law along with the body of the memo which provides a full answer to the lawyer’s question by setting out summaries of relevant case law, legislation, quotations from the cited cases and legislative documents. Lastly, each memo includes a hyperlinked list of the cases and legislation cited in the memo.
Alexsei software is available in all Canadian common law jurisdictions and in California and New York. However, only licensed lawyers and paralegal with a good standing record are able to register to use this software. Alexsei does come with a variety of pricing models, the standard plan $49/Monthly with an additional cost of $199 per memo with a one question daily limit. However, to find the right option, prospective clients can contact sales at Alexsei to discuss a plan that is appropriate for their practice.
Strength:
- Ensures the correct memo is generated for the question submitted, without additional charges.
- User-friendly interface, requires minimal computer skills to operate.
- Research is completed quicker, with considerable saving on un-billed search work.
Drawback:
- As memos take 24 hours to generate using Alexsei, the software is not fit for use for research tasks that are commonly completed manually much quicker.
Casedo is a software designed for organizing large amounts of documents in different formats with ease by turning the uploaded document into an e-bundle that contains all documents relating to a case, with additional notes added by the lawyer. The software also provides tools to mark up certain documents, as well as searching and navigation tools. This software provides support to litigation lawyers by tracking their documents ensuring excessive time is not invested to merely organize documents. To start using this software, lawyers first begin by importing all documents related to a case. From here, lawyers can read, rename, and mark up important passages with bookmarks and highlights. Users can further organize documents into folders and as a case progress, with the ability to continuously import more files and organize them with other documents by simply dragging and dropping.
Casedo contains a vast number of navigation functions to help research for specific documents in a case file and analyze your documents. Casedo, allows users to markup important text, recording your analysis of documents for future reference. Casedo allows lawyers to have centralized access to multiple documents.
A benefit that Casedo provides is the ease of use. To use Casedo, users first begin with a blank section that allows them to mass upload documents. Once uploaded, lawyers can rearrange them based on any criteria. From their users use a vast range of functions to better analyze each document and their relationship to each other documents, all without having to manually track and manage hundreds of documents involved in a case.
Once Casedo is open onto your device you can use other software as well alongside it, making it easy for you to multitask and help with your workflow. Further, once you are done completing a file you can choose whether you wish to save your digital case file locally or share it on a cloud drive in order to make it accessible from anywhere.
Strength:
- Cloud-based, making the software accessible on Windows and Mac from anywhere.
- Casedo offers a free trial for customers to ensure the software is the right solution for them..
Drawback:
- Software is built specifically for managing documents and easing the pressure from the discovery process and does not provide other automation, management or communication tools.
Lexbe is a cloud based platform that works independent of any internet browser which means you can access your files anywhere with a simple internet connection. Simply put, this software allows users to upload large amounts of data for discovery, from which an index is automatically created, and lawyers on a case can then search, review, produce, and securely manage case documents. However, Lexbe offers more than a mere document organization tool, this softwares comes equipped with many additional tools to assist litigation lawyers through the discovery process.
One of these additional features is the Assisted Review+ which works by first having human reviewers (usually paralegals and lawyers) code only a seed set of documents to ensure the accuracy of the coding algorithm. Then the Assisted Review+ begins its work, and an overlay load file containing the assisted review for the entire document collection is created. This feature has the capability to review millions of documents and tens of millions of pages. This feature not only saves lawyers tremendous amounts of time, but according to the The Sedona Conference and the Text Retrieval Conference this technology also improves the quality of review.
Additionally, Integrated Messaging+ is yet another feature that converts raw messaging data into reviewable PDFs complete with metadata extraction. This will allow firms to save time and cutting out the manual work and simply have a reviewable PDF of each message with sender, recipient, date, and time.
Early Case Analysis is another tool offered by Lexbe which analyzes a case’s strengths and weaknesses early in the litigation process and as a result prevents mistakes by understanding your case earlier and identifying gaps in timeline and data. Further, by creating admins viewers can have access to everyone's case file and see their work. This allows firms to be better informed about all their active matters and ensure no client file is neglected at any stage.
Lexbe has many clients from Canada to the USA as well. So with this being in effect once a week Lexbe eDiscovery will continuously upgrade products on to their platform. Additionally since the system is regularly being upgraded the platform will provide you with training every Thursday based on your schedule.
Lexbe offers flexible pricing as well with no setup fees, no user fees and no per case fee either. The Flex Plan is a month-to-month and no extended commitment plan that charges lawyers $5 per Gigabyte of data they upload. They also offer all-in plans and other subscription plans. This allows firms to be able to take advantage of this software without having to have endless clients to justify the cost.
Strength:
- Contains numerous additional features to accommodate lawyers in their discovery process.
- Data importation is handled seamlessly by Lexbe’s professional service’s team or done manually.
- Flexible subscription plan that allows lawyers to only pay for the amount of work they have and not more.
Drawbacks:
- As the platform comes equipped with many features it can be difficult to locate and use its functions with ease.
- Limited security, as the software does not provide a default 2-factor authentication. This feature could be added on a case by case basis.
You can visit our marketplace here for more information on additional features, pricing options, trials and demos. You can also browse our marketplace for more exciting legal softwares that can change the way you practice law.
