LexisNexis Launches Lexis Answers, Bringing AI Capabilities to Legal Research Platform
LexisNexis Legal & Professional has launched Lexis Answers, a new artificial intelligence (A.I.) enhancement within its flagship Lexis Advance offering, the company announced.
“Using powerful machine learning, cognitive computing and advanced natural language processing technologies, Lexis Answers transforms legal research by understanding the user’s natural language question and delivering the clearest, most concise and authoritative answer, in addition to finely tuned, comprehensive search results,” the company said in a news release.
The release continues:
Unlike traditional search approaches, which require users to translate their query into key words or use Boolean syntax, the Lexis Answers service allows users to enter their query in the form of a natural language question. With the input of a couple of words, the Lexis Answers service can begin anticipating and recommending Suggested Questions to the user. After analyzing millions of annotated legal documents and other content, Lexis Answers delivers the single best possible answer via a Lexis Answer Card. Each Lexis Answer Card links directly to the specific text within the document—rather than just the document itself—significantly speeding up the research process for common legal questions.
“Lexis Answers represents a paradigm shift in legal research. By delivering specific and actionable answers at the top of their search results, we’re saving users effort previously spent analyzing pages of search results and legal documents—enhancing their workflow and empowering them to get more done in less time,” said Sean Fitzpatrick, Managing Director of North American Research Solutions at LexisNexis. “Whether users need answers to common legal questions or they seek deeper insights into more complex queries, Lexis Answers makes it easier and faster to get the specific information they seek.”
Advancing more accurate and complete research, this new A.I. capability suggests related topics that help users logically and intuitively expand their search. It also delivers more comprehensive “traditional” search results tailored to the user’s question and can be further refined using robust filtering options. All of the words within the search question, and added equivalents, are highlighted within the search results and full-text results documents—making it easier for users to find information and determine relevance.
“Today’s announcement of Lexis Answers showcases the significant investments LexisNexis has made in pursuing advanced technologies that transform legal research to better meet the needs of the data-driven lawyer,” said Jeff Pfeifer, vice president of Product Management at LexisNexis. “And our work with Lexis Answers is just beginning. Over time we plan to refine and build this technology out to make it more sophisticated, more inclusive and smarter—delivering a service that actually learns from our users in order to surface the answers they need, save them time and provide even greater actionable insights.”
A.I. technologies have been an important part of the LexisNexis product portfolio for many years. In 1990, LexisNexis pioneered the use of machine learning, and in 1993, launched its first data visualization application—decades before the mainstream use of these technologies. Since these initial forays, LexisNexis has been actively pursuing natural language processing, text-mining, machine learning and other advanced capabilities to deliver state-of-the-art technology to customers and advance legal research into the future. A.I.-enhanced products from LexisNexis include Lexis Advance, Lexis® Litigation Profile Suite, LexisNexis MedMal Navigator®, the Lex Machina® Legal Analytics® platform, Ravel Law and Intelligize®.
Lexis Answers was developed by a team of experts at the LexisNexis Raleigh Technology Center. LexisNexis created its Raleigh, NC based cognitive computing center of excellence in 2015. This group is dedicated to developing artifical intelligence solutions for data-driven lawyers. A team of data scientists, computational linguists, advanced engineering and product management professionals will develop a series of A.I.-powered solutions releasing throughout 2017 and beyond.
Lexis Answers is now available to Lexis Advance subscribers at no additional cost.