News
A Glimpse at the Legal Profession’s Future
December 8, 2013
The “Legal Technology Future Horizons” report, to be released by the International Legal Technology Association in January, examines the potential impact of technology advances on the legal industry over the next decade. Here are 10 observances that might be surprising from our survey: 1. New entrants—different but the same? 2. Crowdsourcing judgements—opportunity deferred: 3. Education—ivory towers or digital oasis? 4. Big data, low differentiation: 5. Regulatory barriers...
December 8, 2013
The “Legal Technology Future Horizons” report, to be released by the International Legal Technology Association in January, examines the potential impact of technology advances on the legal industry over the next decade. Here are 10 observances that might be surprising from our survey: 1. New entrants—different but the same? 2. Crowdsourcing judgements—opportunity deferred: 3. Education—ivory towers or digital oasis? 4. Big data, low differentiation: 5. Regulatory barriers...
MSU J.D. Program Offers Major in Tech
December 7, 2013
It may seem like the non sequitur of the decade, but getting a job as an information architect after years of studying law textbooks and taking practice bar exams isn't the worst way to start a legal career. In fact, one school thinks it may be the best way. At Michigan State University School of Law, two professors are teaching future lawyers a practical way to use their education—building legal technology as enterprise information architects, according to Mathew Miller for the Lansing State...
December 7, 2013
It may seem like the non sequitur of the decade, but getting a job as an information architect after years of studying law textbooks and taking practice bar exams isn't the worst way to start a legal career. In fact, one school thinks it may be the best way. At Michigan State University School of Law, two professors are teaching future lawyers a practical way to use their education—building legal technology as enterprise information architects, according to Mathew Miller for the Lansing State...
Mommy, the Drone’s Here!
December 7, 2013
The novelty of flying cars never materialized. But flying novels are right around the corner. If you aren’t nervous enough reading about 3-D printers spitting out handguns or Google robots with Android phones, imagine the skies thick with crisscrossing tiny drones. “I know this looks like science fiction. It’s not,” Jeff Bezos told Charlie Rose on “60 Minutes” Sunday, unveiling his octocopter drones. The Amazon founder is optimistic that the fleet of miniature robot helicopters...
December 7, 2013
The novelty of flying cars never materialized. But flying novels are right around the corner. If you aren’t nervous enough reading about 3-D printers spitting out handguns or Google robots with Android phones, imagine the skies thick with crisscrossing tiny drones. “I know this looks like science fiction. It’s not,” Jeff Bezos told Charlie Rose on “60 Minutes” Sunday, unveiling his octocopter drones. The Amazon founder is optimistic that the fleet of miniature robot helicopters...
Google Puts Money on Robots, Using the Man Behind Android
December 7, 2013
In an out-of-the-way Google office, two life-size humanoid robots hang suspended in a corner. If Amazon can imagine delivering books by drones, is it too much to think that Google might be planning to one day have one of the robots hop off an automated Google Car and race to your doorstep to deliver a package? Google executives acknowledge that robotic vision is a “moonshot.” But it appears to be more realistic than Amazon’s proposed drone delivery service, which Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s...
December 7, 2013
In an out-of-the-way Google office, two life-size humanoid robots hang suspended in a corner. If Amazon can imagine delivering books by drones, is it too much to think that Google might be planning to one day have one of the robots hop off an automated Google Car and race to your doorstep to deliver a package? Google executives acknowledge that robotic vision is a “moonshot.” But it appears to be more realistic than Amazon’s proposed drone delivery service, which Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s...
How to Start Thinking Like a Data Scientist
December 7, 2013
Slowly but steadily, data are forcing their way into every nook and cranny of every industry, company, and job. Managers who aren’t data savvy, who can’t conduct basic analyses, interpret more complex ones, and interact with data scientists are already at a disadvantage. Companies without a large and growing cadre of data-savvy managers are similarly disadvantaged. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a data scientist or a Bayesian statistician to tease useful insights from data. This post...
December 7, 2013
Slowly but steadily, data are forcing their way into every nook and cranny of every industry, company, and job. Managers who aren’t data savvy, who can’t conduct basic analyses, interpret more complex ones, and interact with data scientists are already at a disadvantage. Companies without a large and growing cadre of data-savvy managers are similarly disadvantaged. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a data scientist or a Bayesian statistician to tease useful insights from data. This post...
Law Schools Can’t Sleep Through the Technological Revolution
December 7, 2013
It is plain to see that technology is fundamentally changing the way we live. During a recent family trip to a lodge, I was amused to learn that my children did not know what a rotary phone was. But why should they? They were born digital and have grown up in a rapidly changing world of PDAs, flat-screen TVs, ITunes, YouTube, Facebook, Netflix, and texting. These are all transformative innovations, and one can only imagine what will be next. We are in the midst of a technological renaissance, a revolution...
December 7, 2013
It is plain to see that technology is fundamentally changing the way we live. During a recent family trip to a lodge, I was amused to learn that my children did not know what a rotary phone was. But why should they? They were born digital and have grown up in a rapidly changing world of PDAs, flat-screen TVs, ITunes, YouTube, Facebook, Netflix, and texting. These are all transformative innovations, and one can only imagine what will be next. We are in the midst of a technological renaissance, a revolution...
Demographic Change Hits Nation’s Law Schools
December 6, 2013
As the number of applicants to law school continues to dwindle, some writers have begun pondering the demographic challenges facing law schools. Attorney Keith Lee and University of Saint Thomas School of law professor Jerry Organ recently wrote articles highlighting the decline in graduates from elite, "feeder" universities applying to law school. At the same time, recent law school applicants tend to have lower LSAT scores than their predecessors. Both of these observations fit into a developing...
December 6, 2013
As the number of applicants to law school continues to dwindle, some writers have begun pondering the demographic challenges facing law schools. Attorney Keith Lee and University of Saint Thomas School of law professor Jerry Organ recently wrote articles highlighting the decline in graduates from elite, "feeder" universities applying to law school. At the same time, recent law school applicants tend to have lower LSAT scores than their predecessors. Both of these observations fit into a developing...
Litigation Funding Technique Creates Potential Conflicts in Australia
December 6, 2013
WITH the election of a new federal government, the debate over third-party litigation financing has heated up. In this atmosphere, it is truly unfortunate that some, including Hugh McLernon of IMF (Australia) in The Australian recently, are brushing off the very real problems posed by the practice. Instead, they have chosen to mischaracterise the efforts of my organisation, the US Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, to curb financing abuses.
December 6, 2013
WITH the election of a new federal government, the debate over third-party litigation financing has heated up. In this atmosphere, it is truly unfortunate that some, including Hugh McLernon of IMF (Australia) in The Australian recently, are brushing off the very real problems posed by the practice. Instead, they have chosen to mischaracterise the efforts of my organisation, the US Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, to curb financing abuses.
Recalculate the Future of Law
December 6, 2013
We’ve been engaged in a year-long project to imagine the law firm of 2023. Dan Katz of Michigan State University has also been taking on law’s future through the ReInvent Law Laboratory. We talked with him about legal startups, incentivizing innovation, and what he tells lawyers who “don’t do math.” Andrew Benedict-Nelson: I’d like to do a little Rip Van Winkle experiment with you. Let’s say you fall asleep for ten years. It turns out you’ve fallen asleep in a law firm. What do you imagine...
December 6, 2013
We’ve been engaged in a year-long project to imagine the law firm of 2023. Dan Katz of Michigan State University has also been taking on law’s future through the ReInvent Law Laboratory. We talked with him about legal startups, incentivizing innovation, and what he tells lawyers who “don’t do math.” Andrew Benedict-Nelson: I’d like to do a little Rip Van Winkle experiment with you. Let’s say you fall asleep for ten years. It turns out you’ve fallen asleep in a law firm. What do you imagine...
ACC Survey Sees GC Salaries Up, Outside Spend Down
December 6, 2013
A new survey by Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), a global bar association with 33,000 in-house counsel members, and Empsight International, a human resources consulting firm that collects in-house attorney compensation data, indicates that general counsel salaries are increasing at a fairly predictable rate, while many law departments are cutting back on outside legal spend. The 2013 Law Department Compensation Survey was conducted in the spring of 2013 and drew responses from more than...
December 6, 2013
A new survey by Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), a global bar association with 33,000 in-house counsel members, and Empsight International, a human resources consulting firm that collects in-house attorney compensation data, indicates that general counsel salaries are increasing at a fairly predictable rate, while many law departments are cutting back on outside legal spend. The 2013 Law Department Compensation Survey was conducted in the spring of 2013 and drew responses from more than...
