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Recoveries Can Turn Legal Departments Into Profit Centers
September 13, 2013
Traditionally, corporate legal departments play defense, not offense. However, there is a recent trend that is turning tradition on its head and turning legal departments into profit centers. This trend does not suggest that legal departments should chase dollars indiscriminately. Rather, legal departments should be selective in the recoveries they choose to pursue, and resort to litigation only when necessary and cost-effective. Here’s how to effectively structure a thriving recovery program. THE...
September 13, 2013
Traditionally, corporate legal departments play defense, not offense. However, there is a recent trend that is turning tradition on its head and turning legal departments into profit centers. This trend does not suggest that legal departments should chase dollars indiscriminately. Rather, legal departments should be selective in the recoveries they choose to pursue, and resort to litigation only when necessary and cost-effective. Here’s how to effectively structure a thriving recovery program. THE...
Confirmation Bias
September 13, 2013
Confirmation bias is a tendency to search for, interpret or remember information in a way that confirms preconceptions or working hypotheses. People can reinforce their existing attitudes by selectively collecting new evidence, by interpreting evidence in a biased way or by selectively recalling information from memory. Some psychologists use "confirmation bias" for any of these three cognitive biases, while others restrict the term to selective collection of evidence, using assimilation bias for biased...
September 13, 2013
Confirmation bias is a tendency to search for, interpret or remember information in a way that confirms preconceptions or working hypotheses. People can reinforce their existing attitudes by selectively collecting new evidence, by interpreting evidence in a biased way or by selectively recalling information from memory. Some psychologists use "confirmation bias" for any of these three cognitive biases, while others restrict the term to selective collection of evidence, using assimilation bias for biased...
Regatta Teams Mediate Safety Recommendations
September 13, 2013
America’s Cup organizers turned to mediation to resolve differences among the four teams over how and when the regatta will proceed, as well as 37 safety and rule changes that were recommended following a fatal capsize during training in May. Two mediators – both sailing experts – conducted four days of mediation and achieved agreement on the vast majority of the safety recommendations, although issues on the racing format and start date remained unresolved, to the frustration of fans. New...
September 13, 2013
America’s Cup organizers turned to mediation to resolve differences among the four teams over how and when the regatta will proceed, as well as 37 safety and rule changes that were recommended following a fatal capsize during training in May. Two mediators – both sailing experts – conducted four days of mediation and achieved agreement on the vast majority of the safety recommendations, although issues on the racing format and start date remained unresolved, to the frustration of fans. New...
Preparation is the Key
September 13, 2013
In her latest edition of One Minute Negotiating Tips appearing in the August 2013 edition of the Los Angeles County Bar Association's digital magazine ( Volume VII, No. 2), my colleague Linda Bulmash addresses a topic near and dear to me: preparing for negotiation. Her tip actually takes more than a minute (actually 4:24 minutes) because she includes a classic video from the television show, "Taxi" that poignantly highlights the consequences of failing to prepare for a negotiation. With Ms. Bulmash's...
September 13, 2013
In her latest edition of One Minute Negotiating Tips appearing in the August 2013 edition of the Los Angeles County Bar Association's digital magazine ( Volume VII, No. 2), my colleague Linda Bulmash addresses a topic near and dear to me: preparing for negotiation. Her tip actually takes more than a minute (actually 4:24 minutes) because she includes a classic video from the television show, "Taxi" that poignantly highlights the consequences of failing to prepare for a negotiation. With Ms. Bulmash's...
Nexus Causality, Moral Warfare and Misattribution Arbitrage
September 12, 2013
Here are three simple conceptual tools that might help us see in front of our noses: nexus causality, moral warfare, and misattribution arbitrage. Causality itself is an evolved conceptual tool that simplifies, schematizes, and focuses our representation of situations. This cognitive machinery guides us to think in terms of the cause — of an outcome having a single cause. Yet for enlarged understanding, it is more accurate to represent outcomes as caused by an intersection or nexus of factors...
September 12, 2013
Here are three simple conceptual tools that might help us see in front of our noses: nexus causality, moral warfare, and misattribution arbitrage. Causality itself is an evolved conceptual tool that simplifies, schematizes, and focuses our representation of situations. This cognitive machinery guides us to think in terms of the cause — of an outcome having a single cause. Yet for enlarged understanding, it is more accurate to represent outcomes as caused by an intersection or nexus of factors...
Bring in the Robots
September 12, 2013
Not quite a decade ago, an experienced British Airways captain publicly complained about his airline's orders banning manual thrust control by its Airbus crews in normal flight. Captain Malcolm Scott feared pilots would end up less prepared to fly the aircraft manually. He wrote in a pilots' publication: "This ban is likely to lead to further deskilling and further increase in errors. Without a significant change in the airline's policy, the inevitable response will be a complete ban on manual...
September 12, 2013
Not quite a decade ago, an experienced British Airways captain publicly complained about his airline's orders banning manual thrust control by its Airbus crews in normal flight. Captain Malcolm Scott feared pilots would end up less prepared to fly the aircraft manually. He wrote in a pilots' publication: "This ban is likely to lead to further deskilling and further increase in errors. Without a significant change in the airline's policy, the inevitable response will be a complete ban on manual...
The Trolley Problem
September 12, 2013
The trolley problem is a thought experiment in ethics, first introduced by Philippa Foot in 1967, but also extensively analysed by Judith Jarvis Thomson, Peter Unger, and Frances Kamm as recently as 1996. Outside of the domain of traditional philosophical discussion, the trolley problem has been a significant feature in the fields of cognitive science and, more recently, of neuroethics. It has also been a topic on various TV shows dealing with human psychology. The general form...
September 12, 2013
The trolley problem is a thought experiment in ethics, first introduced by Philippa Foot in 1967, but also extensively analysed by Judith Jarvis Thomson, Peter Unger, and Frances Kamm as recently as 1996. Outside of the domain of traditional philosophical discussion, the trolley problem has been a significant feature in the fields of cognitive science and, more recently, of neuroethics. It has also been a topic on various TV shows dealing with human psychology. The general form...
IBM’s Cognitive Computing Software May Serve As Architecture For Brain-Like Computer
September 12, 2013
A computer that works like the human brain? It may not be that far off. IBM cognitive computing researchers are one step closer to making a brain-like computer a reality. The team on Thursday unveiled a "breakthrough software ecosystem" that has the ability to program microchips with architecture based on the human brain. The framework, which includes new programming language and algorithms, is just part of the process that principal investigator Dr. Dharmendra S. Modha hopes will lead...
September 12, 2013
A computer that works like the human brain? It may not be that far off. IBM cognitive computing researchers are one step closer to making a brain-like computer a reality. The team on Thursday unveiled a "breakthrough software ecosystem" that has the ability to program microchips with architecture based on the human brain. The framework, which includes new programming language and algorithms, is just part of the process that principal investigator Dr. Dharmendra S. Modha hopes will lead...
How ‘Tomorrow’s Lawyers’ Are Using Technology Now to Improve Outcomes
September 12, 2013
Remember the runaway bestseller Megatrends in 1983? Author John Naisbitt captivated his audience by identifying 10 themes...
September 12, 2013
Remember the runaway bestseller Megatrends in 1983? Author John Naisbitt captivated his audience by identifying 10 themes...
10 Tips From Plaintiffs’ Lawyers for Cutting Corporate Legal Costs
September 11, 2013
Big law firms love the billable hour. For most corporate firms, the profit model is built on a multiplier of billable hours...
September 11, 2013
Big law firms love the billable hour. For most corporate firms, the profit model is built on a multiplier of billable hours...
