Analytics is one of the buzzwords in legal technology that seems to be sticking, and both entrepreneurs and investors are taking notice.

Among the companies emerging in the space is Gavelytics, the Southern California-based provider of a judicial analytics platform. On March 13, the company announced the closing of a $3.2 million funding round, which will be used to expand its coverage into new jurisdictions, develop new product offerings and hire new employees.

The funding round is the second since Gavelytics' 2017 inception, in which it raised $2.5 million. Rick Merrill, CEO at Gavelytics, told Legaltech News that “100 percent” of the company's original investors reinvested in round two. The company also managed to add a number of “big hitters” in the L.A. business investor community to its roster, including LegalZoom co-founder Brian Lee.

Lee told LTN that his interest in Gavelytics spawned from state court analytics being “largely overlooked in the legal technology space,” despite representing “a huge market.”

“Data analytics is dramatically changing the legal landscape,” Lee added. “There's a significant competitive advantage to be gained by using technology to quickly sort through and derive learnings from vast amounts of data.”

Other investors disclosed by the company come from a range of industries, including Ken Solomon, CEO and chairman of the Tennis Channel; David Nazarian, an early Qualcomm investor; Bruce Karatz, former chairman and CEO of KB Home; and LA businessman Jarl Mohn. The company didn't disclose the round's lead investor, though Merrill noted that it's one of the names listed.

At present, Gavelytics allows users to analyze judicial behavior in the Los Angeles and Riverside County Superior Courts, such as how quickly a judge rules or whether a judge more often rule in favor of plaintiffs or defendants. With its new funds, Merrill said the company will “launch our San Francisco product” before the end of March. It also plans to expand to “far more” counties during the second quarter.

Merrill added that funding enables the company to “accelerate” its development roadmap for other states, though didn't disclose future locations. Later in the year, Gavelytics will also add arbitration rulings to its dataset and release a searchable trial court database for judges in Los Angeles County.

In terms of team expansion, Gavelytics will hire new lawyers and data science engineers. The practice of hiring data scientists has recently gained steam in legal, with law firms like Cravath Swaine & Moore and Littler Mendelson.  The company currently counts law firms Irell & Manella and Glaser Weil among its law firm partnerships.