Legal research company vLex has launched a new capability via its NLP-driven Vincent search engine that can discover case law recommendations from multiple jurisdictions that differ from that of the document you are looking at. Its partnership with UK law firm Mishcon de Reya played a role in this attribute’s development.
They explained the ability this way: ‘A lawyer using Vincent to analyse a document from Canada will now see recommendations of textually similar and relevant authorities from the UK, and many other jurisdictions. Importantly, this will enable lawyers to build better arguments using on-point cases and persuasive authorities from jurisdictions that are most relevant to them.’
I.e. much more of the legal world is your oyster now when you are looking to build your arguments for a case.
They added that research conducted in partnership with Mishcon de Reya had played an important role. The research identified ‘a clear trend in recent years of lawyers and courts increasingly looking to judgments from different jurisdictions as persuasive authority’.
vLex claimed that it is now ‘the only platform in the world where legal practitioners and academics can conduct this type of research’.
This is possible due to the growing database of materials that vLex offers – they currently cover comprehensive primary and secondary legal collections in 100 countries – as well as Vincent’s machine learning algorithms that ‘mimic human search behaviour and identify sources that could never have been found with traditional research techniques, reducing the risk of important information being missed’, they explained.
Robin Chesterman, Global Head of Product at vLex, added in a statement: ‘vLex technology is constantly evolving, and we are always looking at how we can push the boundaries of what’s possible to help our users.
‘Vincent’s new cross-jurisdictional capability is vital in today’s legal landscape as there is a high degree of commonality among legal practitioners, with many lawyers looking for similar prior issues that have been discussed around the world. We think Vincent will allow lawyers to make stronger arguments, and win more cases, by uncovering related precedents set in other jurisdictions.’