Emérita Legal

Emérita Legal, operating in the legal tech sector, was founded in 2017 by Antonio Padín and Yéssica Vázquez Sámpayo with the objective of bringing transparency to the Spanish justice system. The company is headquartered in Ames, Spain.

The firm developed a judicial analytics platform that leverages big data and artificial intelligence to process and analyze millions of court rulings. This technology provided objective, data-driven insights into the performance and experience of lawyers, judges, and courts. For individuals and businesses seeking legal services, the platform offered a way to select a lawyer based on their verified track record and specialization, moving beyond subjective opinions. For legal professionals, it served as a tool to gain visibility based on merit and to optimize strategic decisions for cases and business development.

The business model was structured as freemium, providing free access to consumers while offering premium features to lawyers to enhance their visibility and generate leads. The core of the platform was the 'Judicial Performance Index' (IRJ), a proprietary algorithm that objectively scored lawyers based on their court resolutions, allowing them to be ranked by specialty. The platform's positioning was based on earned merit, not paid advertising.

Since its launch in January 2019, the company experienced significant organic growth, attracting over a million users in its first year. In May 2019, it received the award for best legaltech from the General Council of Spanish Lawyers (CGAE). Emérita Legal secured multiple funding rounds, including an equity crowdfunding round of approximately €260,000 in July 2019 and a subsequent seed round of €260,000 in June 2020, with participation from funds like SociosQ and Archipiélago Next. However, the company faced significant legal challenges from established institutions, including Spain's General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and corporate publisher Wolters Kluwer, which ultimately led to the decision to cease operations in April 2024 after analyzing over 11 million judicial documents and serving more than 16 million users.

Keywords: legal tech, judicial analytics, big data, artificial intelligence, lawyer ranking, legal services marketplace, objective lawyer rating, legal data transparency, Antonio Padín, Yéssica Vázquez Sámpayo, Judicial Performance Index, IRJ, court data analysis, legal market disruption, freemium legal service, legal data insights, strategic legal intelligence, case outcome analysis, lawyer performance metrics, Spanish legal system, legal due diligence