Legal analytics innovator Lex Machina has recruited Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe former chair Ralph Baxter onto the company’s Board of Directors. The company, which creates structured data sets covering districts, judges, law firms, lawyers, parties, and patents, out of millions of pages of legal information, was set up by experts at Stanford University. It allows law firms and companies to predict the behaviours and outcomes that different legal strategies will produce. Its software is used by companies such as Microsoft, Google, and eBay as well as law firms like Wilson Sonsini, Fish & Richardson and Fenwick & West.

Pioneer in law

Mr Baxter, who was chair and CEO of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe for over 23 years, is a pioneer in law firm management. His role is to  help guide Lex Machina’s accelerated growth.  'I’m delighted to join Lex Machina’s Board of Directors during a pivotal time in the evolution of legal technology and of the legal industry more broadly,' said Mr Baxter. 'Lex Machina’s cutting-edge technology has already had a significant impact on the way law is practiced, and has barely scratched the surface of what is possible. The company’s potential is enormous, and I’m looking forward to doing all I can to see it come to fruition.' 

On the board

Mr Baxter joins current Board of Directors members Josh Becker, CEO of Lex Machina; Mark Lemley, Professor of Law at Stanford Law School; John Hamel, General Partner at Cue Ball Capital; Roy Martin, President and CEO of WELM Ventures; Robert Siegel General Partner at XSeed Capital; and Jeff Thermond, Venture Partner at XSeed Capital.