Legal Analytics
Abstract
To reduce the number of pending cases and conflicting rulings in the Brazilian Judiciary, the National Congress amended the Constitution, allowing the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) to create binding precedents (BPs), i.e., a set of understandings that both Executive and lower Judiciary branches must follow. The STF’s justices frequently cite the 58 existing BPs in their decisions, and it is of primary relevance that judicial experts could identify and analyze such citations. This project aims to create computational methodologies to assist lawyers and other experts in analyzing legal documents that cite or that potentially cite BPs. Our primary objective is to identify and explain meaningful patterns, anomalies, shared characteristics and other relevant behaviors that may involve different STF justices, decisions and/or binding precedents.