Lex Machina 2025 Legal Analytics Survey: From Important to Essential

By Carla Rydholm | Lex Machina General Manager and Head of Product 

The ability to leverage data-driven insights has become common practice for litigators to craft winning case strategies. A new survey from Lex Machina®, the LexisNexis® Legal Analytics® platform, provides compelling evidence that incorporating data-driven litigation strategies and business development evolved from important to essential. 

Incorporating Data-Driven Litigation Strategies and Business Development 

Litigation analytics offer lawyers a valuable resource for improving their decision-making and delivering superior outcomes for their clients. 

Our proprietary technology and AI-assisted attorney review convert raw legal documents into comprehensive data sets, filling gaps in court records and delivering unique case insights that are not available from any other platform. This enables legal practitioners to paint an accurate portrait of their case landscape for clients to rely upon, knowing that their insights and knowledge draw from the industry’s most comprehensive and powerful dataset of litigation intelligence. 

By identifying meaningful patterns from similar previous disputes, legal professionals can develop more effective strategies for motions, trials, appeals, and settlement negotiations.  

Overwhelming Consensus on Value 

Our April 2025 survey of 415 law firm professionals revealed important insights about how law firms are embracing data-driven approaches to litigation strategy and business development. 

Over 95% of respondents surveyed agreed that analytics are valuable to their practices.  This overwhelming consensus suggests that analytics have crossed the threshold from novelty to necessity in the modern law office. 

Legal data analytics “are used for everything from helping to predict case outcomes and understand judicial behaviors, to identifying bottlenecks in a firm’s legal operations,” as described in Legal Management, the magazine of the Association of Legal Administrators. “It’s easy to understand why law firms value legal analytics, and why clients expect firms to use them. They enable law firms to make data-driven decisions that confer a competitive edge and enhance lawyer agility and operational efficiency.” 

The adoption rate closely mirrors this sentiment, with 7 out of 10 respondents actively using analytics in their litigation practices. This widespread implementation indicates that analytics have evolved to become mainstream litigation practice management tools. 

Survey responses regarding primary benefits gained from adopting litigation analytics painted a clear picture of practical advantages. Law firm professionals highlight four key areas in which analytics deliver measurable value: 

• Efficiency: Litigation analytics improve efficiency across the lifecycle of civil litigation, streamlining workflows and reducing time spent on valuating claims, drafting motions, managing dockets, assessing appeals, and more. 

• Case Arguments: Attorneys report that litigation analytics enhance their legal arguments by providing data-driven insights into judicial tendencies, opposing counsel strategies, and fact-finding trends. 

• Case Assessment: The ability to uncover and understand outcome patterns for similar cases significantly increases the speed and quality of case assessment, allowing lawyers to quickly evaluate the strength of their position and tailor strategic approaches accordingly. 

• Competitive Edge: Firms consistently report that analytics make them more competitive in the marketplace by way of equipping firms to showcase how they stand apart from peers as well as by providing detailed intelligence about prospective clients’ history of litigation experience and law firm representation. 

Integration and Client Expectations 

The survey reveals important trends that suggest litigation analytics adoption will continue accelerating. 

• 7 out of 10 respondents reported that clients now expect their lawyers to use litigation analytics while working on their matters. This client-driven demand represents a fundamental shift, in which data-driven insights are no longer optional luxuries but expected standard practice elements. 

• 6 out of 10 respondents expressed interest in integrating analytical data with other organizational information systems through APIs. This desire for integration indicates that firms increasingly view analytics not as standalone tools. Through integrations such as Lex Machina API, powerful litigation data complement a firm’s institutional knowledge, thereby facilitating enhanced decision-making across all aspects of practice management. 

Analytics and Implications for the Legal Profession 

These survey results paint a clear picture: The near-universal recognition of analytics' value, combined with widespread adoption and client expectations, illustrate that data-driven litigation practice has become the new standard. For firms that haven't yet adopted litigation analytics, the survey findings present a clear competitive imperative as non-adopters risk falling behind in both case outcomes and client satisfaction. 

Law firms that embrace these tools today position themselves well for current competitive advantages as well as continued leadership as legal technology evolves further. Product developments like LexisNexis Protégé™ in Lex Machina exemplify the commitment to innovation and development that will shape the future of legal analytics.  

To find out more about Lex Machina and how it can elevate your legal decision-making or to request a demo: LexisNexis.com/LexMachina