ArbiLex today announced the launch of its Arbitrator Analytics Platform, which is transforming the practice of international arbitration by ranking arbitrators through a proprietary reasoning system to enhance decision-making by law firms and litigation funds. ArbiLex has successfully tested the efficacy of its algorithms with leading global law firms and litigation funds seeking a competitive edge in multi-billion-dollar cases around the world.
International arbitration is one of the fastest-growing practice areas for global law firms and litigation funds. Last year, Singapore and Hong Kong became the latest jurisdictions to liberalize the entry of litigation finance into international arbitration, broadening beyond traditional venues such as the United States, where the litigation finance market size is estimated to be between $50 billion to $100 billion.
“In the era of global litigation finance, international arbitration cases are emerging as a multi-trillion-dollar asset class. Under this new paradigm, the status quo of relying solely on anecdotal evidence and qualitative memos is insufficient. When the stakes are all-or-nothing, there needs to be a more quantitative, coherent and explainable framework in assessing deal risk,” said ArbiLex Founder and CEO Isabel Yang, a statistician, economist and graduate of Harvard Law School with experience in law and policy across four continents.
“ArbiLex’s analytics solution leverages expert knowledge and probabilistic modeling to inform high-value strategic decisions, starting with the selection of arbitral tribunals, which is arguably the highest-value decision in any arbitration case,” Yang added.
Yang first tested the concept of ArbiLex in the Harvard Innovation Labs before forming the team earlier this year. Since then, the company has attracted world-class engineers, AI and machine learning scientists, and designers from organizations including Google, MIT, Harvard University, and IDEO.
Law firms and litigation funds consider the application of ArbiLex to international arbitration as a potential game-changer.
Yas Banifatemi, Partner and Co-Head of the International Arbitration practice at the law firm Shearman & Sterling, said: “Artificial intelligence is growing fast as a disruptive technology in the practice of international arbitration. ArbiLex represents a key initiative and has the ambition – and means – to become a leading resource in the field.”
Tom Glasgow, Chief Investment Officer for Asia at global litigation fund IMF Bentham, said: “ArbiLex brings data-driven intelligence to difficult and critical decisions like tribunal selection, providing an important objective overlay to the legal team’s analysis. This will likely become a highly sought-after risk management tool for funders and commercial parties alike.”
Benjamin Roe, Lead Knowledge Lawyer for Global Disputes at the law firm Baker McKenzie, said of ArbiLex: “The kind of analysis provided by ArbiLex has the potential to transform arbitration.”
Mark Beckett, International Arbitration Partner at the law firm Cooley LLP, and an adviser to ArbiLex, added: “ArbiLex’s use of AI will help counsel and clients test their positions, adopt the best strategy and provide important feedback on when it makes sense to fight and when it makes sense to settle. The array of tools significantly enhances the ability of counsel to help claimholders use the process intelligently and achieve better outcomes.”