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Predictive Analytics
Don’t Call Me a Lawyer—I am a “Legal Engineer”
August 3, 2019
“Traditionally, lawyers write memos and make oral arguments,” Burt says. “As legal engineers, our job is not to write...
August 3, 2019
“Traditionally, lawyers write memos and make oral arguments,” Burt says. “As legal engineers, our job is not to write...
Automatically Extracting Meaning From Legal Texts: Opportunities and Challenges
August 2, 2019
This paper surveys three basic legal-text analytic techniques—ML, network diagrams, and question answering (QA)—and...
August 2, 2019
This paper surveys three basic legal-text analytic techniques—ML, network diagrams, and question answering (QA)—and...
The Effects of the Extant Clauses Limiting Auditor Liability on Audit Fees and Overall Reporting Quality
August 1, 2019
Regulators and shareholders generally oppose any restriction on clients' rights to sue their auditors, believing that such restrictions would impair reporting quality. However, the evidence suggests that the opposition to limitation of liability agreements (LLAs) between clients and auditors is likely unwarranted. Specifically, the evidence indicates that LLAs are beneficial to clients by lowering their audit fees. More importantly, we find no evidence that they impair financial reporting quality...
August 1, 2019
Regulators and shareholders generally oppose any restriction on clients' rights to sue their auditors, believing that such restrictions would impair reporting quality. However, the evidence suggests that the opposition to limitation of liability agreements (LLAs) between clients and auditors is likely unwarranted. Specifically, the evidence indicates that LLAs are beneficial to clients by lowering their audit fees. More importantly, we find no evidence that they impair financial reporting quality...
Data Analytics Is (Slowly) Transforming Private Equity
July 27, 2019
Data analytics is one of the hottest areas in business these days. Companies are increasingly adopting it to transform human resources, sales and marketing, business development, operations and other areas, across a wide spectrum of industries. The approach holds the promise of more objective decision-making and a stronger bottom line. But when it comes to the world of private equity it’s a different story, according to Sajjad Jaffer, co-founder of the advisory and investment firm Two Six Capital....
July 27, 2019
Data analytics is one of the hottest areas in business these days. Companies are increasingly adopting it to transform human resources, sales and marketing, business development, operations and other areas, across a wide spectrum of industries. The approach holds the promise of more objective decision-making and a stronger bottom line. But when it comes to the world of private equity it’s a different story, according to Sajjad Jaffer, co-founder of the advisory and investment firm Two Six Capital....
Legal Uniformity in American Courts
July 25, 2019
Intercircuit splits occur when two or more circuits on the U.S. Courts of Appeals issue different legal rules about the same legal question. When this happens, federal law is applied differently in different parts of the country. Intercircuit splits cause legal nonuniformity, are an impediment to lawyering and judging, and have practical consequences for U.S. law. Despite intercircuit splits’ importance, there is almost no quantitative research about them. We created a unique original dataset...
July 25, 2019
Intercircuit splits occur when two or more circuits on the U.S. Courts of Appeals issue different legal rules about the same legal question. When this happens, federal law is applied differently in different parts of the country. Intercircuit splits cause legal nonuniformity, are an impediment to lawyering and judging, and have practical consequences for U.S. law. Despite intercircuit splits’ importance, there is almost no quantitative research about them. We created a unique original dataset...
Predicting Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Outcomes Using the Federal Judicial Center IDB and Ensemble Artificial Intelligence
July 22, 2019
In this project, the authors obtained public data on over 100,000 Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases and used machine and deep-learning methodologies to explore whether models could be designed to predict Chapter 11 case outcomes. The data used was obtained from the Federal Judicial Center’s bankruptcy Integrated Database and included information about case filing dates, the court where the case was filed, the type of business entity, and basic information about assets and liabilities. Using this information,...
July 22, 2019
In this project, the authors obtained public data on over 100,000 Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases and used machine and deep-learning methodologies to explore whether models could be designed to predict Chapter 11 case outcomes. The data used was obtained from the Federal Judicial Center’s bankruptcy Integrated Database and included information about case filing dates, the court where the case was filed, the type of business entity, and basic information about assets and liabilities. Using this information,...
Automation & Predictive Analytics in Patent Prosecution: USPTO Implication & Policy
July 19, 2019
Artificial-intelligence technological advancements bring automation and predictive analytics into patent prosecution. The information...
July 19, 2019
Artificial-intelligence technological advancements bring automation and predictive analytics into patent prosecution. The information...
Predictive Contracting
July 18, 2019
This Article examines how contract drafters can use data on contract outcomes to inform contract design. Building on recent developments in contract data collection and analysis, the Article proposes “predictive contracting,” a new method of contracting in which contract drafters can design contracts using a technology system that helps predict the connections between contract terms and outcomes. Predictive contracting will be powered by machine learning and draw on contract data obtained from...
July 18, 2019
This Article examines how contract drafters can use data on contract outcomes to inform contract design. Building on recent developments in contract data collection and analysis, the Article proposes “predictive contracting,” a new method of contracting in which contract drafters can design contracts using a technology system that helps predict the connections between contract terms and outcomes. Predictive contracting will be powered by machine learning and draw on contract data obtained from...
What Did Wimbledon Teach Us About Genius?
July 17, 2019
Sunday’s tennis championship at Wimbledon between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer lasted nearly five hours, a record. It finished with a 12-12 tie in the final set, triggering a first-to-seven tie breaker. For tennis fans, it was an epic struggle between legends, in a storybook setting. The weather was perfect and the hats were divine. For readers of David Epstein’s new book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, however, it was an academic nail biter, a test case in a simmering...
July 17, 2019
Sunday’s tennis championship at Wimbledon between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer lasted nearly five hours, a record. It finished with a 12-12 tie in the final set, triggering a first-to-seven tie breaker. For tennis fans, it was an epic struggle between legends, in a storybook setting. The weather was perfect and the hats were divine. For readers of David Epstein’s new book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, however, it was an academic nail biter, a test case in a simmering...
Where do we go from Here? Transformation and Acceleration of Legal Analytics in Practice
July 15, 2019
The advantages of evidence-based decision-making in the practice and theory of law should be obvious: Don’t make arguments to judges that seldom persuade; Jurisprudential analysis ought to align with sound social science; Attorneys should pitch legal work to clients that demonstrably need it. Despite the appearance of simplicity, there are practical and attitudinal barriers to finding and incorporating data into the practice of law. This article evaluates the current technologies and systems...
July 15, 2019
The advantages of evidence-based decision-making in the practice and theory of law should be obvious: Don’t make arguments to judges that seldom persuade; Jurisprudential analysis ought to align with sound social science; Attorneys should pitch legal work to clients that demonstrably need it. Despite the appearance of simplicity, there are practical and attitudinal barriers to finding and incorporating data into the practice of law. This article evaluates the current technologies and systems...
