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Q&A with Larry Bridgesmith on Artificial Intelligence in Law
May 16, 2016
Vanderbilt Law's Bridgesmith talks with LTN on the role of AI in the modern law firm, whether machines will replace lawyers, and more Artificial intelligence (AI) is a controversial topic in any industry, and when applied to lawyers, the emerging technology leads many to wonder whether AI will augment the practice of law or replace the lawyer. In this edition of Plugged In, we sat down with Larry Bridgesmith, adjunct professor at Vanderbilt Law, to discuss the issues surrounding AI's role in law....
May 16, 2016
Vanderbilt Law's Bridgesmith talks with LTN on the role of AI in the modern law firm, whether machines will replace lawyers, and more Artificial intelligence (AI) is a controversial topic in any industry, and when applied to lawyers, the emerging technology leads many to wonder whether AI will augment the practice of law or replace the lawyer. In this edition of Plugged In, we sat down with Larry Bridgesmith, adjunct professor at Vanderbilt Law, to discuss the issues surrounding AI's role in law....
Startup Plans to Rate Lawyers Based on Court Records and Win-Loss Stats
May 15, 2016
Two Harvard University undergraduates are preparing to launch a website that will rate lawyers based on publicly available court records. The site, called Legalist, will mine and analyze court records in order to match clients with lawyers who win similar cases based on details and location. It will also profile litigators’ win-loss records. The site is currently in beta testing and its developers hope to launch it in late summer or early fall. The testing phase is using only Massachusetts cases...
May 15, 2016
Two Harvard University undergraduates are preparing to launch a website that will rate lawyers based on publicly available court records. The site, called Legalist, will mine and analyze court records in order to match clients with lawyers who win similar cases based on details and location. It will also profile litigators’ win-loss records. The site is currently in beta testing and its developers hope to launch it in late summer or early fall. The testing phase is using only Massachusetts cases...
Towards A More Accurate Listing of Legal Tech Startups
May 15, 2016
A recent post of mine drew a lot of attention for stating that the number of legal startups had nearly tripled in two years. Relying on the Angel List roster of legal startups, I observed that the number had grown from 412 two years ago to 1,094 as of the date of my post, reflecting nearly threefold growth. (Just since my post, another nine companies were added to the list.) Over at Associate’s Mind, Keith Lee did what I should have done. He took a closer look at the Angel List roster. He found...
May 15, 2016
A recent post of mine drew a lot of attention for stating that the number of legal startups had nearly tripled in two years. Relying on the Angel List roster of legal startups, I observed that the number had grown from 412 two years ago to 1,094 as of the date of my post, reflecting nearly threefold growth. (Just since my post, another nine companies were added to the list.) Over at Associate’s Mind, Keith Lee did what I should have done. He took a closer look at the Angel List roster. He found...
Technology: Breaking the Law
May 14, 2016
The widening gap between legal fees and what most companies can afford to pay makes the profession ripe for ‘Uberisation’ One sector, however, has carried on as if technology had never been invented: the law. Lawyers’ working practices “have not changed much since the time of Charles Dickens”, say father-and-son team Richard and Daniel Susskind in their book, The Future of the Professions. Lawyers still provide high-cost customised advice. The highest-earning legal partners preside...
May 14, 2016
The widening gap between legal fees and what most companies can afford to pay makes the profession ripe for ‘Uberisation’ One sector, however, has carried on as if technology had never been invented: the law. Lawyers’ working practices “have not changed much since the time of Charles Dickens”, say father-and-son team Richard and Daniel Susskind in their book, The Future of the Professions. Lawyers still provide high-cost customised advice. The highest-earning legal partners preside...
Uncertainty Is More Stressful Than Pain, Say Neurologists
May 12, 2016
A recent study found that a small possibility of receiving a painful electric shock causes people more stress than knowing for sure that a shock was on the way. Researchers asked participants to guess whether a snake hid beneath a rock, while measuring stress levels. If a participant guessed incorrectly and turned over a rock with a snake beneath it, he received a small electric shock on the hand. While current research focuses on the negative impacts of stress, there may be benefits, too. The researchers...
May 12, 2016
A recent study found that a small possibility of receiving a painful electric shock causes people more stress than knowing for sure that a shock was on the way. Researchers asked participants to guess whether a snake hid beneath a rock, while measuring stress levels. If a participant guessed incorrectly and turned over a rock with a snake beneath it, he received a small electric shock on the hand. While current research focuses on the negative impacts of stress, there may be benefits, too. The researchers...
Shadow of the Contract: How Contract Structure Shapes Inter-Firm Dispute Resolution
May 12, 2016
This paper investigates how contract structure influences inter-firm dispute resolution processes and outcomes by examining a unique dataset consisting of over 150,000 pages of documents relating to 102 business disputes. We find that the level of contract detail affects the type of dispute resolution approach that is adopted when conflict arises, and that different approaches are associated with different costs for resolving the dispute. We also find that the effect of contract choice on dispute...
May 12, 2016
This paper investigates how contract structure influences inter-firm dispute resolution processes and outcomes by examining a unique dataset consisting of over 150,000 pages of documents relating to 102 business disputes. We find that the level of contract detail affects the type of dispute resolution approach that is adopted when conflict arises, and that different approaches are associated with different costs for resolving the dispute. We also find that the effect of contract choice on dispute...
Running the Numbers: Legal Analytics
May 11, 2016
More Lawyers are using analytics to gain an edge. Using data to predict performance encompasses everything from deciding how to invest your money to predicting how well a baseball player will hit with a new team to anticipating how well an ad campaign will work. And now the legal profession is getting on board. The technology is still in its early days, but attorneys are starting to use analytics to predict the outcome of a case, determine a lawsuit’s potential payoff or loss and identify which...
May 11, 2016
More Lawyers are using analytics to gain an edge. Using data to predict performance encompasses everything from deciding how to invest your money to predicting how well a baseball player will hit with a new team to anticipating how well an ad campaign will work. And now the legal profession is getting on board. The technology is still in its early days, but attorneys are starting to use analytics to predict the outcome of a case, determine a lawsuit’s potential payoff or loss and identify which...
Unpacking Negligence Liability: Experimentally Testing the Governance Effect
May 11, 2016
Arguably, if a court holds a defendant liable for negligently inflicting harm on the plaintiff, this intervention combines three effects: (1) the court specifies the normative expectation, (2) the court expresses dissatisfaction with the plaintiff's behavior, for example, her level of activity, and (3) the court obliges the defendant to compensate the plaintiff. In the field, it would be close to impossible to disentangle the three effects, or to investigate how they interact with intrinsic reticence...
May 11, 2016
Arguably, if a court holds a defendant liable for negligently inflicting harm on the plaintiff, this intervention combines three effects: (1) the court specifies the normative expectation, (2) the court expresses dissatisfaction with the plaintiff's behavior, for example, her level of activity, and (3) the court obliges the defendant to compensate the plaintiff. In the field, it would be close to impossible to disentangle the three effects, or to investigate how they interact with intrinsic reticence...
EDTX saw Q1 Drop in Patent Compaints
May 9, 2016
The number of new patent cases fell sharply in the first quarter in the Eastern District of Texas, reflecting a national...
May 9, 2016
The number of new patent cases fell sharply in the first quarter in the Eastern District of Texas, reflecting a national...
ROSS and AI: The Next Step in Legal Tech?
May 8, 2016
Can AI tools like ROSS’ legal research platform revolutionize law for practitioners and consumers? Artificial intelligence as a term has lent itself to a variety of definitions, most hyperbolic and many missing the point. “Nowadays that term gets thrown around a lot,” noted Andrew Arruda, CEO and cofounder of ROSS Intelligence. “Today, I want to get ourselves situated and reveal what it really is.” The venue for this revelation was “Watson, Esq.: Will Your Next Lawyer Be a Machine?”,...
May 8, 2016
Can AI tools like ROSS’ legal research platform revolutionize law for practitioners and consumers? Artificial intelligence as a term has lent itself to a variety of definitions, most hyperbolic and many missing the point. “Nowadays that term gets thrown around a lot,” noted Andrew Arruda, CEO and cofounder of ROSS Intelligence. “Today, I want to get ourselves situated and reveal what it really is.” The venue for this revelation was “Watson, Esq.: Will Your Next Lawyer Be a Machine?”,...
