Practice
Equipping People to Stay Ahead of Technological Change (via The Economist)
February 26, 2017
WHEN education fails to keep pace with technology, the result is inequality. Without the skills to stay useful as innovations arrive, workers suffer—and if enough of them fall behind, society starts to fall apart. That fundamental insight seized reformers in the Industrial Revolution, heralding state-funded universal schooling. Later, automation in factories and offices called forth a surge in college graduates. The combination of education and innovation, spread over decades, led to a remarkable...
February 26, 2017
WHEN education fails to keep pace with technology, the result is inequality. Without the skills to stay useful as innovations arrive, workers suffer—and if enough of them fall behind, society starts to fall apart. That fundamental insight seized reformers in the Industrial Revolution, heralding state-funded universal schooling. Later, automation in factories and offices called forth a surge in college graduates. The combination of education and innovation, spread over decades, led to a remarkable...
The Actual Cost of In-House Artificial Intelligence Adoption
February 26, 2017
The time, capital and personnel required to get basic AI technologies running in-house underscores why such implementation is limited to legal teams. Because of the heavy lifting and dedicated resources an AI implementation can take up, most early adopters are likely to be large corporations for whom AI can provide the most benefit for its cost. In addition to Cisco, McCarron noted that there are several other "larger behemoth" companies road mapping and implementing AI projects, noting Google's...
February 26, 2017
The time, capital and personnel required to get basic AI technologies running in-house underscores why such implementation is limited to legal teams. Because of the heavy lifting and dedicated resources an AI implementation can take up, most early adopters are likely to be large corporations for whom AI can provide the most benefit for its cost. In addition to Cisco, McCarron noted that there are several other "larger behemoth" companies road mapping and implementing AI projects, noting Google's...
Claude Monet and the Theory of Your Case
February 23, 2017
In 1874, Claude Monet exhibited a painting in Paris, an unconventional depiction of sunrise at Le Havre. "What shall we call it?" his brother asked. "Mettez 'impression'"—call it an impression—Monet replied. Impressionism got its name. Monet rented rooms across from the Rouen cathedral façade and painted it 30 times. Each painting, with different effects of light, shade, weather, and time of day, gives one a different impression. His paintings of the seashore direct us to consider...
February 23, 2017
In 1874, Claude Monet exhibited a painting in Paris, an unconventional depiction of sunrise at Le Havre. "What shall we call it?" his brother asked. "Mettez 'impression'"—call it an impression—Monet replied. Impressionism got its name. Monet rented rooms across from the Rouen cathedral façade and painted it 30 times. Each painting, with different effects of light, shade, weather, and time of day, gives one a different impression. His paintings of the seashore direct us to consider...
AI and the Legal Renaissance
February 22, 2017
When AI first reached the ears of the legal market some years ago there was a flurry of stories about the end of lawyers. For years afterward and with Pavlov dogs-like automation any mention of legal AI summoned up the panicked refrain: ‘The end of lawyers is coming, the end of lawyers is coming!’ This was until law firms and corporates actually started to make use of legal AI systems, especially in the last two years and even more so last year. The clichéd refrain, now exposed to the cleansing...
February 22, 2017
When AI first reached the ears of the legal market some years ago there was a flurry of stories about the end of lawyers. For years afterward and with Pavlov dogs-like automation any mention of legal AI summoned up the panicked refrain: ‘The end of lawyers is coming, the end of lawyers is coming!’ This was until law firms and corporates actually started to make use of legal AI systems, especially in the last two years and even more so last year. The clichéd refrain, now exposed to the cleansing...
The Lasting 6%: My Impressions Of The 2017 Legaltech Show
February 22, 2017
But, what I’ve been asking myself in the two weeks following Legaltech is why certain things were sticking out in my memory and others had already faded. In other words, what made it into my 6%? So with no further ado, here are my impressions from three days at Legaltech. 2. The cloud is here. I know this because this year NO ONE was talking about the cloud. That said, it’s crazy finding out how many Fortune 500 cloud companies keep their own data behind the firewall. That feels...
February 22, 2017
But, what I’ve been asking myself in the two weeks following Legaltech is why certain things were sticking out in my memory and others had already faded. In other words, what made it into my 6%? So with no further ado, here are my impressions from three days at Legaltech. 2. The cloud is here. I know this because this year NO ONE was talking about the cloud. That said, it’s crazy finding out how many Fortune 500 cloud companies keep their own data behind the firewall. That feels...
Seyfarth Shaw Puts ‘Software Robots’ to Use in Automation Push
February 21, 2017
Seyfarth Shaw is already well-known in the legal industry as a pioneer of using business process improvement to make their work more efficient. Now the firm is breaking ground with the use of “software robots.” Seyfarth will announce Tuesday a licensing deal with Blue Prism, which makes software that it says can automate almost any task a human performs on a computer at one-third the cost of a person. Seyfarth and Blue Prism Group plc, which has about 200 customers including large banks and accounting...
February 21, 2017
Seyfarth Shaw is already well-known in the legal industry as a pioneer of using business process improvement to make their work more efficient. Now the firm is breaking ground with the use of “software robots.” Seyfarth will announce Tuesday a licensing deal with Blue Prism, which makes software that it says can automate almost any task a human performs on a computer at one-third the cost of a person. Seyfarth and Blue Prism Group plc, which has about 200 customers including large banks and accounting...
Loop, the Legal AI Assistant You Talk To
February 19, 2017
Most, if not all, legal AI applications at the moment are text-based rather than voice-based. But, now here comes Loop, which offers the general public the ability to use spoken natural language processing (NLP) to find legal information. The Philadelphia-based start-up got going about one year ago and is this year in the process of coming fully to market. Artificial Lawyer spoke to one of the co-founders, Peter McCann about this ‘Legal Siri’. McCann begins by noting that at 37 years old he is in fact...
February 19, 2017
Most, if not all, legal AI applications at the moment are text-based rather than voice-based. But, now here comes Loop, which offers the general public the ability to use spoken natural language processing (NLP) to find legal information. The Philadelphia-based start-up got going about one year ago and is this year in the process of coming fully to market. Artificial Lawyer spoke to one of the co-founders, Peter McCann about this ‘Legal Siri’. McCann begins by noting that at 37 years old he is in fact...
New Site ‘Legably’ Matches Lawyers With Lawyers For Short-Term Projects
February 19, 2017
A new website called Legably aims to enable solo and small-firm lawyers to handle higher workloads by hiring other attorneys on an on-demand basis. The site matches attorneys who are looking for extra work with attorneys who have projects with which they need help. Notably, Legably has entered into a partnership with Clio to be integrated into its practice management platform, Legably’s founder Daniel P. Reilly told me earlier this week. This will allow attorneys who obtain work through Legably...
February 19, 2017
A new website called Legably aims to enable solo and small-firm lawyers to handle higher workloads by hiring other attorneys on an on-demand basis. The site matches attorneys who are looking for extra work with attorneys who have projects with which they need help. Notably, Legably has entered into a partnership with Clio to be integrated into its practice management platform, Legably’s founder Daniel P. Reilly told me earlier this week. This will allow attorneys who obtain work through Legably...
Deep Learning Will Radically Change the Ways We Interact with Technology
February 16, 2017
Over the last half-dozen years, deep learning, a branch of artificial intelligence inspired by the structure of the human brain, has made enormous strides in giving machines the ability to intuit the physical world. At Facebook’s AI lab, they’ve built a deep learning system capable of answering simple questions to which it had never previously been exposed. The Echo, Amazon’s smart speaker, uses deep learning techniques. Three years ago, Microsoft’s chief research officer impressed attendees...
February 16, 2017
Over the last half-dozen years, deep learning, a branch of artificial intelligence inspired by the structure of the human brain, has made enormous strides in giving machines the ability to intuit the physical world. At Facebook’s AI lab, they’ve built a deep learning system capable of answering simple questions to which it had never previously been exposed. The Echo, Amazon’s smart speaker, uses deep learning techniques. Three years ago, Microsoft’s chief research officer impressed attendees...
Court Approved: Family Law Mediators Can Draft Settlement Documents in Wisconsin
February 12, 2017
From The State Bar of Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Supreme Court has approved a petition that will allow lawyer-mediators to draft and file settlement documents in family law cases. Currently, parties must obtain different legal counsel to perform those legal tasks after mediation. More frequently, parties attempt to navigate the legal system with no legal help at all. Another layer to limited scope representation rules that took effect two years ago, the new rule will give parties a more affordable...
February 12, 2017
From The State Bar of Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Supreme Court has approved a petition that will allow lawyer-mediators to draft and file settlement documents in family law cases. Currently, parties must obtain different legal counsel to perform those legal tasks after mediation. More frequently, parties attempt to navigate the legal system with no legal help at all. Another layer to limited scope representation rules that took effect two years ago, the new rule will give parties a more affordable...
