Thanks to the advent of artificial intelligence, lawyers have more than just their instinct and experience to rely on when predicting things like litigation outcomes, future risk and legal spend. But the use of AI to predict future outcomes—called predictive analytics—isn't as futuristic as it sounds. In a nutshell, predictive analytics uses machine learning to assess the likelihood of particular outcomes by identifying trends in historical data.

The technology, already a staple in spaces like litigation, is fast becoming the norm in the legal market. Many people believe predictive analytics will play a bigger role in law firm services in years to come, in large part because clients are increasing comfortable with the technology, and in some cases, even expect legal advice with more of a quantitative edge. Such technology also isn't just the purview of a few legal tech companies. Over the past few years, a number of law firms have developed these tools themselves—and they aren't the only ones looking to become predictive analytics developers.