i f

DEMOTECH:INDUSTRY LOSS

RESERVE STUDIES

InterestingnotMeaningful

An Unfair Advantage?Big data yields surprising results in litigation

On March 1, 2014, Alvin Benton Esq. won Case #2013-CA-008850-O in Orange County, Florida before Hon.Margaret Schreiber. The analysts at legal analytics startup,

Premonition, weren't surprised. "Its the 32nd time in a row thathe's won in front of her," CIO Toby Unwin explained.

Can the results of litigation be predicted in advance basedsolely on the Attorney and who they are appearing in front of?"Not entirely," Unwin explains," but it has approximately a 30%influence. Over the course of several cases it adds up to significantsavings for clients."

Premonition has a unique database that pulls records directlyfrom individual courthouses and pools them where they can beanalyzed. "That in itself is a breakthrough," CEO Guy Kurlandskiexplains. "Until now, unless you had a Federal, or appealed, casethere was no Central system for searching cases, so you had tofind 99% of them by hand at individual courthouses around thecountry. Premonition can search many courts simultaneously."Data like this can produce interesting results. Using advancedalgorithms to spot trends, Kurlandski claims the system usuallyfinds at least one outlier, like Benton, before each Judge. "We hada client in Reno, Nevada. After crunching the data on over 15,000cases we found an Attorney with 22 straight wins before thatJudge. The next Lawyer down was at seven. On closer examinationwe found a lot of anomalies with that Attorney/Judge pairing ...these things are more common than you might think."

How good are Attorneys? "It's a complicated question. Theythemselves don't know and it differs per Judge," says Unwin."We've found that peer recognition and billing rate aren't correlated with Courtroom success. The top UK law firms consistentlyrehire proven losers because, until now, nobody's been keepingscore."

"Alvin Benton is only an Associate at Holland & Knight, yethe's the best Lawyer there for certain Judges. However, if youcalled the firm and asked for their best Attorney for JudgeSchreiber, they'd probably give you a Senior Partner at vastly higher rates who isn't even top 100 before that Judge. It sounds crazyto say, but law firms (that aren't clients) don't even know howgood their own people are, let alone the Attorneys and Judgesthey're up against." Unwin says.

Former Insurance defense attorney, Brett Schlacter, agrees."Facts and law have lost too many times. As objective as Judges

"...peer recognition and billing rate aren'tcorrelated with Courtroom success...."

- Toby Unwin, CIO, Premonition

"If you have to hire an attorney anyway,why not hire a good one?"

- Guy Kurlandski, CEO, Premonition

18 October 26,2014 / INSURANCE ADVOCATE

try to be, at the end of the day they're human and the quality ofthe Advocate definitely makes a difference."

How are insurers using Premonition? "We believe data driven litigation is a game changer," Guy Carpenter, UK ManagingDirector, Donald McDonald, explains. "It's amazing that law asan industry hasn't had these kinds of metrics applied to it before.Better litigators means fewer losses, means lower premiums. It'san exciting area," he continues. "We're also exploring usingPremonition's general Court data in areas like MedicalMalpractice. Thirty-five percent of malpractice claims come fromrepeat litigants, so why not screen them out at the beginning?We're exploring programs with drastically reduced premiums forclients that litigate intelligently."

"You have to hire an Attorney anyway, why not hire a goodone?" Kurlandski asks. "Many insurers track their internal Counselresults, but have no idea when it comes to outside Counsel, ornew geographic areas. Premonition offers what some are callinga very, very unfair advantage in litigation, i.e. putting the rightAttorney before the right Judge."[/A]

ADVERTORIAL]

M M«*«4l»M■ , Iv i m

r&4rBUB

M40

•*• iiM

• t »

n.nojkm

■M

mm

TT.1tTT.TM»«3333M M

n4040■34

TIXST1.43IT.<4»*.M

* * * 4«*4* J - * *:*'■."ua*

NOU S•9390 3 3

AMI4MM0M «f Win lUloMJD

va

»o

i . - - .

K l o w A v » r * q « AbOV* Avet«i«

HO« HIM* - «H«0.*»«4

#•■ J,J •«* 1 «a« h»r»ddaapita peat via r*t«*H W f . V l a H t t t . f M

I f t U . M I4

4^ 4 U » 4 I . I I «4 f » t l . 9 %

. ♦ ■■ * .♦ * ♦♦ .♦

in

+■ UK Court <rf Api**** B*ftnU«K*

Hiring popularity do** so*. «o*r»»pof«5 to win H*t*

Premonition LLC is a Miami, Florida based legal analyticscompany. It specializes in Attorney selection based uponWin Rate per Judge and case type, which it can offer via reports or Attorney leasing. Premonition assists in Arbitratorand Expert Witness selection based upon win rates and priorlitigation records. Premonition also supplies bespoke litigation data including malpractice litigant lists and Judicial analytics. www.LosingslsExpensive. com

Guy Kurlandski, Premonition CEO, is a serial entrepreneurwho has created a diverse group of businesses that includehousehold product supplies, advertising, an art gallery andclothing lines. Mr. Kurlandski also held the position of President of a large newspaper, printer and distributor. He is theprincipal of Print Management LLC and SETASI LLC (a private equity firm); a Partner at PlayNTrade (video game retail);Co-principal of Lionheart Capital Management; CEO ofOceanview 7 LLC (construction developments in the FloridaKeys); COO of Litigas LLC (a legal services firm); and a consultant to various newspaper and print plants both domestically and abroad. He speaks three languages and lives inMiami, Florida.

"...data driven litigation is a game changer...better Litigators means fewer losses,

means lower premiums."- Donald McDonald, UK Managing Director, Guy Carpenter

Toby Unwin, Premonition CIO, started his career as a headhunter at Harvey Nash PLC, a leading UK Public recruitmentcompany. He left there to form NetSearch with a consortiumof five top recruitment companies and a leading jobs websiteas investors. NetSearch was one of the most profitable Internet businesses in Europe and subsequently sold for S160M.Mr. Unwin is the author of bestselling books, owns 10 patentsand serves as the Republic of Austria's Honorary Consul inOrlando. He sits on numerous boards including Maximum LifeMedical Research Foundation and the Central Florida Ballet.As an accomplished pilot, he holds a world airspeed record.He speaks five languages and is International Advisory Counsel to NeJame LaFay, Attorneys at Law.

INSURANCE ADVOCATE / October 26,2014 19

United Kingdom Court of Appeals, Barrister Win RatesHiring Popularity does not correspond to Win Rate