In a universe of 110 thousand judicial decisions, it is possible to obtain reliable trends and insights into how judges are analyzing the various demands that reach the courts. For this, technology needs to provide data simply and promptly to lawyers, who can interpret it in order to make the best possible decision for their clients. This logic has motivated Insper's law students, in partnership with Demarest law firm, to create a program or software to assist the firm in searching and analyzing judicial decisions involving compensation for material and/or moral damages. Thousands of cases were separated by Insper itself so that students of the Legal Practice course, taught in the sophomore year, could use this sample to develop the solution.

 

"Many firms face the challenge of dealing with mass litigation, which involves a large number of cases, such as consumer law demands," contextualizes professor Ivar Hartmann. "We want students to create software that will receive or read tens of thousands of sentences, filtering where there is condemnation to pay material and/or moral damages. From there, the challenge is to bring, for example, the values involved in these cases, producing statistics from them that are relevant for lawyers," he adds. The students are programming the software in Python, using natural language processing techniques, supported by Insper's Data Science applied to Law faculty. Some are even using generative artificial intelligence as part of their programs, facilitating the filtering and extraction of the desired data.

 

Before the students embarked on the program's development, Demarest gave them two classes, explaining basic issues about Procedural Law, including the competencies of Justice, and compensation for material and/or moral damages, such as where these cases usually proceed. "We also addressed which types of filters and analyses could be most useful not only for Demarest but also for our potential clients and companies in general for which the students will work in the future. Additionally, we held individual meetings with each group, who showed great interest in discussing their projects," says Luana Falkenburger, senior lawyer at Demarest.

 

In professor Maria Carolina Foss's evaluation, the possibility of performing practical activities from the freshman year is highly relevant for learning. "Students quickly have the opportunity to deliver tasks based on real and current challenges of the profession through interaction with our market partners and team work. The clinic is a mandatory course and carried out by students in the second, fourth, and sixth semesters," she states. As the Insper law program requires full-time dedication, this course brings students closer to the reality of legal practice but in a way that allows them a quality experience that goes far beyond an internship to perform repetitive or bureaucratic activities. In the clinics, the faculty choose real cases to be solved in partnership with law firms, companies, public agencies, or the third sector.

 

There is even a monetary award offered by Demarest for the top two groups: R$10,000 for the winner and R$5,000 for the second place. The goal is to provide additional motivation for students, serving as a reward for the work being done. The evaluation panels of the deliveries were held on December 11.

 

 

Programming and data analysis in Law

 

In recent years, as in other areas, the law has been transformed by technology, which involves not only the digitization of the courts but also the automation of various daily tasks. The rise of generative AI applied to law firms' databases and the judiciary itself brings new possibilities for lawyers.

 

"We need to be attuned to this universe because a relevant part of a lawyer's job is to provide clients with certainty about their chances of success or failure in legal cases, as well as to be able to guide them on the best and most modern litigation strategies. For this, starting from technology, we increasingly need to obtain data based on court decisions. In this context, we discover how the courts perceive the main issues presented to our clients, allowing us to use technology to improve and enrich the scope of our advice," says Luana. According to the lawyer, for those working in Consultative Law, i.e., contracts, transactions, and memoranda, it is equally relevant to have analytical tools and insights to provide the best possible recommendation to the client, aiming to prevent litigation and ensure the best results for our clients when litigation is inevitable.

 

For Professor Ivar, the clinical course's objective is to ensure that students, after graduation, can be protagonists in their actions, not coadjutors, in an increasingly technology-centered market. "Using these resources to solve legal problems will give them a competitive advantage over other professionals," he concludes.