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Predictive Analytics
Can Government Play Moneyball?
July 7, 2013
Based on our rough calculations, less than $1 out of every $100 of government spending is backed by even the most basic evidence that the money is being spent wisely. As former officials in the administrations of Barack Obama (Peter Orszag) and George W. Bush (John Bridgeland), we were flabbergasted by how blindly the federal government spends. In other types of American enterprise, spending decisions are usually quite sophisticated, and are rapidly becoming more so: baseball’s transformation...
July 7, 2013
Based on our rough calculations, less than $1 out of every $100 of government spending is backed by even the most basic evidence that the money is being spent wisely. As former officials in the administrations of Barack Obama (Peter Orszag) and George W. Bush (John Bridgeland), we were flabbergasted by how blindly the federal government spends. In other types of American enterprise, spending decisions are usually quite sophisticated, and are rapidly becoming more so: baseball’s transformation...
Rise Of The Machines
July 5, 2013
Researcher Dreams Up Machines That Learn Without Humans | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com. What will happen when the machines can learn from data they haven't seen before? What will happen when you don't have to train the machines? This researcher in deep learning has created algorithms which allow the computers to learn from data they have never seen before. On a large scale, this means that SkyNet is in our future. Thank goodness we will all be dead by that time.
July 5, 2013
Researcher Dreams Up Machines That Learn Without Humans | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com. What will happen when the machines can learn from data they haven't seen before? What will happen when you don't have to train the machines? This researcher in deep learning has created algorithms which allow the computers to learn from data they have never seen before. On a large scale, this means that SkyNet is in our future. Thank goodness we will all be dead by that time.
When is Litigation Like Las Vegas ?
July 5, 2013
When is litigation like Las Vegas? The more cynical among us might answer “Always,” arguing that the outcome of any trial is a crapshoot. But for the rest of us, “always” is not the right answer. Most believe there is a relationship between the outcome of a trial and the hard work that went into preparing for it. Most believe that our actions influence the outcome. But there is an aspect of litigation that is almost exactly like Las Vegas, at least from a mathematical perspective, and that...
July 5, 2013
When is litigation like Las Vegas? The more cynical among us might answer “Always,” arguing that the outcome of any trial is a crapshoot. But for the rest of us, “always” is not the right answer. Most believe there is a relationship between the outcome of a trial and the hard work that went into preparing for it. Most believe that our actions influence the outcome. But there is an aspect of litigation that is almost exactly like Las Vegas, at least from a mathematical perspective, and that...
General Electric Joins the ‘Big Data’ Party
July 3, 2013
Offering a “big data” solution is apparently irresistible to every company on the planet. Megacorporation General Electric has...
July 3, 2013
Offering a “big data” solution is apparently irresistible to every company on the planet. Megacorporation General Electric has...
NASA, Deloitte Launch Risk Management Partnership
July 2, 2013
After one small ceremony this week, NASA and Deloitte hope to make a giant leap in improving oil field safety. The space agency and the consulting firm signed off on a partnership to provide advanced risk-management services to oil and gas companies. It will focus on preventing risk scenarios that have a low probability of occurring but have devastating consequences, such as the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil well disaster or the in-flight destruction of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. Specific...
July 2, 2013
After one small ceremony this week, NASA and Deloitte hope to make a giant leap in improving oil field safety. The space agency and the consulting firm signed off on a partnership to provide advanced risk-management services to oil and gas companies. It will focus on preventing risk scenarios that have a low probability of occurring but have devastating consequences, such as the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil well disaster or the in-flight destruction of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. Specific...
Using Data to Fix Outside Counsel Budget Forecasts
July 2, 2013
Since the 2008 economic crisis hit, U.S. corporations have been ratcheting up pressure on their general counsel to limit legal spending, and on law firms to provide detailed budgets for their work. For firms used to providing clients with ballpark estimates for outside counsel work, the new focus on precision can be a difficult transition. “The old approach to budgeting [for legal services] was to say every case is different and can’t be budgeted,” said Craig Raeburn, vice president of legal...
July 2, 2013
Since the 2008 economic crisis hit, U.S. corporations have been ratcheting up pressure on their general counsel to limit legal spending, and on law firms to provide detailed budgets for their work. For firms used to providing clients with ballpark estimates for outside counsel work, the new focus on precision can be a difficult transition. “The old approach to budgeting [for legal services] was to say every case is different and can’t be budgeted,” said Craig Raeburn, vice president of legal...
Law Firms Regain Some Pricing Power
July 1, 2013
Law firms are regaining some of their pricing power after years of cutbacks and client discounts, but they still aren't able...
July 1, 2013
Law firms are regaining some of their pricing power after years of cutbacks and client discounts, but they still aren't able...
Google teaches how to better use Google
June 30, 2013
Even though Google has become an essential tool for lawyers, many attorneys use only a small fraction of its features. They...
June 30, 2013
Even though Google has become an essential tool for lawyers, many attorneys use only a small fraction of its features. They...
Is the Tech Revolution Here Already?
June 28, 2013
Big Data is big news in litigation discovery — and predictive coding has arrived as a best practice to deal with the mountain of data. But that's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. While Big Data looms large in the litigation arena, it is also appearing in the context of internal law firm data — documents, email, and other data objects, including voice and video — with repositories in one larger firm exceeding 50 million items just for documents and selectively retained email records....
June 28, 2013
Big Data is big news in litigation discovery — and predictive coding has arrived as a best practice to deal with the mountain of data. But that's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. While Big Data looms large in the litigation arena, it is also appearing in the context of internal law firm data — documents, email, and other data objects, including voice and video — with repositories in one larger firm exceeding 50 million items just for documents and selectively retained email records....
Roadmap for Driverless Cars: Five Highlights
June 27, 2013
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Thursday came out with a road map for navigating the future of self-driving cars. Here are some highlights from the 14-page policy paper. Revved up: Yellow light: Stop sign: Potholes: Down the road: Bryant Walker Smith, a lecturer at Stanford Law School who studies driverless vehicles, said there’s still no consensus on how we’ll know these cars are safe enough. Should it be as safe as the average driver or better?...
June 27, 2013
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Thursday came out with a road map for navigating the future of self-driving cars. Here are some highlights from the 14-page policy paper. Revved up: Yellow light: Stop sign: Potholes: Down the road: Bryant Walker Smith, a lecturer at Stanford Law School who studies driverless vehicles, said there’s still no consensus on how we’ll know these cars are safe enough. Should it be as safe as the average driver or better?...
