A major litigation funder has teamed up with a London artificial intelligence startup to forecast the prospects of success in cases it considers taking on. The tie-up, between Therium Capital Management and Solomonic Litigation Analytics, is the latest sign of confidence in the ability of systems based on 'big data' to predict which way a particular court is likely to rule on a particular type of case brought against a particular defendant. 

Announcing the deal today, Therium said it will draw on Solomonic’s litigation data and intelligence. In turn, Therium will work with Solomonic to provide insight into future product development. 

Therium co-founder and chief investment officer Neil Purslow said: 'We are always looking at ways to innovate our approach to investments and thanks to Solomonic, strong historic case data is now available to underpin our investment decisions when assessing claims that require funding. We look forward to exploring how big data and AI can add value to how we undertake due diligence and value our claims.'

Solomonic was founded by former Norton Rose partner David Cohen and his barrister son Gideon, along with data science expert Henry Stott. Managing director Edward Bird said: 'We are delighted to be collaborating with a market leader and such an innovative organisation when it comes to litigation funding.'

The ability of machine-learning software to predict the outcome of cases more accurately than human experts has been demonstrated by several academic groups in recent years. Therium's announcement is the latest sign of the technology being applied commercially. It joins litigation funder Apex, which last year announced a partnership with another UK startup, CourtQuant, to assess the risk of litigation.

Some observers however fear that widespread use of outcome prediction systems could threaten justice by effectively pre-empting the role of courts. The French government last year outlawed the publication of all aggregated data about judges’ rulings.