TRIAL: Ravel Law Judge Analytics

Ravel Law is a relatively new legal research and analytics platform that recently announced a project with the Harvard Law School to digitize Harvard’s entire collection of U.S. case law and make the collection available online for free. In addition to providing access to case law, Ravel Law also features data visualization tools to help legal researchers analyze relationships among cases.

Through December 31, 2015, University of Chicago Law School users also have access to another Ravel tool called  Judge Analytics, which provides an overview of an individual judge’s entire career, showing every decision and every citation in a single location. Students interested in studying judicial behavior, as well as those considering clerkships and summer externships with judges, can take advantage of this tool to learn more about specific judges.

Judge Analytics uses citation information to show which cases, circuits, and judges a judge has cited most often. Users can use it determine when a judge may look to law from an unexpected jurisdiction, to see when a judge demonstrates historical patterns on a subject or procedure, or to see which cases, rules, and exact language a judge may prefer and uses often. Judge Analytics currently covers all Federal Supreme, Circuit, and District Court judges.

To access the Judge Analytics trial, go to https://www.ravellaw.com/academics to set up an account and then select “Judge Analytics” from the list of products.