Today Fastcase is announcing the acquisition of innovative docket analytics provider Docket Alarm. Over the past few years, Fastcase has been rapidly transforming itself from being a reliable “low cost” online research provider of primary  law into a serious contender to erode upstream market share from the mega-platforms Westlaw, LexisNexis and Bloomberg Law. The addition of a sophisticated analytics product such as Docket Alarm caters to a market “sweet spot” in law firms. Everyone wants better business intelligence and insights for assessing past litigation performance and anticipating future performance and outcomes of law firms, motions, judges and courts. This move could give Fastcase a serious market edge in the analytics space – because Docket Alarm is offering both federal and state docket data— (although the state data appears to be limited to New York, California and Texas).

Analytics is actually at the core of the Fastcase product. I recently discovered that Fastcase was the first product I reviewed in this blog in 2011.  Fastcase: Legal Research Enters the 4th Dimension or the Little Engine that Could and highlighted Fastcase’s interactive visual timelines.

Fastcase Interactive Timeline

 

The addition of Docket Alarm will provide Fastcase users  with a powerful docket alerting system for real time intelligence about client, causes of action and law firms.

The Competition. Lexis has been offering only federal analytics through their Lex Machina acquisition. Bloomberg Law has a deep pool of both federal and state docket data – but I believe that all of the analytics they are offering are for federal courts. Thomson Reuters although an early player in legal analytics with their Monitor Suite Product has yet to launch a federal or state product for lawyers. They are rumored to be developing an analytics product which will launch in 2018. So that really seems to catapult Fastcase to the head of the pack in either first or second place as of today.

An Acquisition Hiding in Plain Sight – OK I wondered “what was cooking” when I saw Docket Alarm founder Michael Sander perched under a Docket Alarm Sign in the Fastcase booth at the AALL Conference in Austin last July.  Maybe Ed and Phil were being nice to another scrappy start up from a former practicing lawyer. And now we know… This is another piece of the Fastcase masterplan which has been unfolding over the past year.

Docket Alarm was founded by intellectual property litigator Michael Sander. Docket Alarm combines a library of hundreds of millions of litigation records with its machine learning and natural language processing tools. Docket Alarm provides analytical profiles on judges, parties, law firms, and attorneys, identifying win rates, time to decision, and even measuring gender diversity at law firms. Unique for the industry, Docket Alarm’s API gives other firms and companies the ability to leverage its existing database of PACER cases, alerting capabilities, and analysis in bulk.

According to the press release Docket Alarm’s “advanced analytical capabilities, customizable real-time litigation alerts, case prediction indicators, and technology-driven research tools complement Fastcase’s quest to add unique, must-have content for its subscribers and provide leading legal analysis with contributions from firm partners across the country.”

Today, Sander will become the Managing Director of Docket Alarm and Director of Fastcase Analytics. Current Docket Alarm subscribers will continue to enjoy access to their accounts through docketalarm.com with their login and password with no disruption to their access. As Fastcase continues to build out its Analytics, Legal News and Alerts Services, products such as Docket Alarm, the AI Sandbox and Full Court Press will enable Fastcase customers to add and enjoy these unique services and content to their Fastcase subscription.

“Fastcase’s legal research tools have changed the game for published opinions, but they are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Ed Walters, Fastcase CEO. “Docket Alarm adds insights from court filings in cases that never result in an opinion, giving litigators a more complete picture in their research. Now Fastcase and Docket Alarm subscribers can search motions, pleadings, and briefs; get clear analytic insights into judges and law firms; and understand the history of similar cases. Analytics are the future, and Fastcase and Docket Alarm are going to be right in the center of it.”

Integration of Docket Alarm According to Walter’s, Fastcase and Docket Alarm will operate as separate services in the short term, but they will fast track the integration of Docket Alarm into Fastcase 7. Docket Alarm Data will be integrated into Fastcase Sandbox right away. According to Walters both platforms are built on similar technology stacks… “Our goal is complete integration in a single fantastic platform.”

Fastcase Transforms Over the past year alone Fastcase has made several transformative moves. They hired seasoned legal publishing executive Steve Errick and Chief Operating Officer. Launched a printing arm Full Court Press, Launched a journal of original scholarship “The Journal of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & Law. (RAIL)—which is a multi-media offering, eBook, print and audio and the addition of a library of expert commentary of more than 15,000 expert legal bloggers in the LexBlog network.

As a consumer of analytics products I am thrilled to see Fastcase enter this market and tackle developing tools to  meet the unmet demand for state docket analytics and insights.

Here is the full press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 10, 2018

Media Contacts:

Jennifer Brand Ransom, 202.731.2114

jbransom@brandsolutionsgroup.com

Fastcase Expands Legal Analytics Capabilities With Docket Alarm Acquisition

 Fastcase Provides New Competitive Advantage with Litigation Alerts and Legal Analytics Through Docket Alarm Addition

 Washington, DC (January 10, 2018) – Fastcase today announced its expansion into the federal and state docket alerts, legal news and data analytics markets with its acquisition of Docket Alarm.

Docket Alarm’s advanced analytical capabilities, customizable real-time litigation alerts, case prediction indicators, and technology-driven research tools complement Fastcase’s quest to add unique, must-have content for its subscribers and provide leading legal analysis with contributions from firm partners across the country.

Docket Alarm, founded by intellectual property litigator Michael Sander, has been a disruptor in the legal analytics market. Leveraging both a library of hundreds of millions of litigation records and its machine learning and natural language processing tools, Docket Alarm has quickly become a preferred analytics tool for identifying judicial trends and predicting litigation outcomes. Docket Alarm provides analytical profiles on judges, parties, law firms, and attorneys, identifying win rates, time to decision, and even measuring gender diversity at law firms. Unique for the industry, Docket Alarm’s API gives other firms and companies the ability to leverage its existing database of PACER cases, alerting capabilities, and analysis in bulk.

The nation’s largest law firms, Fortune 500 companies, and market research and consulting firms rely on Docket Alarm to search, track, and analyze judicial trends in lawsuits and bankruptcies in federal, state, and administrative courts. Its insight into the ITC, PTAB, and TTAB give intellectual property litigators unparalleled visibility. Its new state court analytics products give New York, Texas, and California litigators tools they have never seen before.

“Fastcase’s legal research tools have changed the game for published opinions, but they are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Ed Walters, Fastcase CEO. “Docket Alarm adds insights from court filings in cases that never result in an opinion, giving litigators a more complete picture in their research. Now Fastcase and Docket Alarm subscribers can search motions, pleadings, and briefs; get clear analytic insights into judges and law firms; and understand the history of similar cases. Analytics are the future, and Fastcase and Docket Alarm are going to be right in the center of it.”

Walters added: “We have tremendous respect for Michael, a truly great legal tech entrepreneur, and we can’t wait to work with him. Docket Alarm and Fastcase were both individually great, but the combined service is going to be a blockbuster.”

“Building a company from scratch was not easy, especially in the legal market with technology that relies on the analysis of millions of cases with high accuracy. But seeing sophisticated law firms, in-house counsel, and financial institutions come to rely on the platform has been incredibly rewarding,” said Sander. “Docket Alarm has the technology to usher in a new age of litigation analysis, and Fastcase has the resources and will to change the way attorneys and law firms research the law; it’s an excellent team to join, at an exciting time.”

Beginning today, Sander will become the Managing Director of Docket Alarm and Director of Fastcase Analytics. Current Docket Alarm subscribers will continue to enjoy access to their accounts through docketalarm.com with their login and password with no disruption to their access. As Fastcase continues to build out its Analytics, Legal News and Alerts Services, products such as Docket Alarm, the AI Sandbox and Full Court Press will enable Fastcase customers to add and enjoy these unique services and content to their Fastcase subscription.

Fastcase co-founders Ed Walters and Phil Rosenthal continue to challenge the status quo in the legal publishing industry. Since founding Fastcase in 1999, they have consistently pursued the mission to make legal research smarter and to democratize the law, making it more accessible to more people. In July they added former LexisNexis executive Steve Errick to drive their product roadmap, which has seen them add in addition to news, dockets and analytics, the launch of a publishing arm, Full Court Press, and the addition of a library of expert commentary of more than 15,000 expert legal bloggers in the LexBlog network.

 

About Fastcase

As the smarter alternative for legal research, Fastcase democratizes the law, making it more accessible to more people. Using patented software that combines the best of legal research with the best of Web search, Fastcase helps busy users sift through the clutter, ranking the best cases first and enabling the re-sorting of results to find answers fast. Founded in 1999, Fastcase has more than 800,000 subscribers from around the world. Fastcase is an American company based in Washington, D.C. For more information, follow Fastcase on Twitter at @Fastcase or visit www.fastcase.com.