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The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts
January 16, 2016
The Future of the Professions explains how 'increasingly capable systems' - from telepresence to artificial intelligence - will bring fundamental change in the way that the 'practical expertise' of specialists is made available in society. The authors challenge the 'grand bargain' - the arrangement that grants various monopolies to today's professionals. They argue that our current professions are antiquated, opaque and no longer affordable, and that the expertise of the best is enjoyed only...
January 16, 2016
The Future of the Professions explains how 'increasingly capable systems' - from telepresence to artificial intelligence - will bring fundamental change in the way that the 'practical expertise' of specialists is made available in society. The authors challenge the 'grand bargain' - the arrangement that grants various monopolies to today's professionals. They argue that our current professions are antiquated, opaque and no longer affordable, and that the expertise of the best is enjoyed only...
Artificial Intelligence is Here
January 13, 2016
As IBM’s Rob High discussed in a recent ABJ article, leadership in artificial intelligence has been a reality for years. Most people are familiar with IBM’s focus on cognitive computing through Watson, the “Jeopardy” winning natural language processor that has a major presence in Austin. In addition to my company, SparkCognition, organizations such as Umbel, Lucid, WayBlazer, and CognitiveScale are advancing machine learning in their respective verticals. Whether it is energy, security, health...
January 13, 2016
As IBM’s Rob High discussed in a recent ABJ article, leadership in artificial intelligence has been a reality for years. Most people are familiar with IBM’s focus on cognitive computing through Watson, the “Jeopardy” winning natural language processor that has a major presence in Austin. In addition to my company, SparkCognition, organizations such as Umbel, Lucid, WayBlazer, and CognitiveScale are advancing machine learning in their respective verticals. Whether it is energy, security, health...
Lawyers Need to Embrace Business Intelligence (BI)
January 7, 2016
A recent IBM eBook points how that “in today’s competitive global marketplace, leading organizations are complementing their current approaches to business intelligence (BI) and analytics.” IBM’s eBook is entitled “Forward Looking Business Intelligence” and given the scope and volume of Electronically Stored Information (ESI) in litigation today the use of BI seems pretty logical given IBM’s three principal types of analytics: Descriptive, which uses BI and data mining to answer...
January 7, 2016
A recent IBM eBook points how that “in today’s competitive global marketplace, leading organizations are complementing their current approaches to business intelligence (BI) and analytics.” IBM’s eBook is entitled “Forward Looking Business Intelligence” and given the scope and volume of Electronically Stored Information (ESI) in litigation today the use of BI seems pretty logical given IBM’s three principal types of analytics: Descriptive, which uses BI and data mining to answer...
The 10 Most Important Legal Technology Developments of 2015
January 3, 2016
What have been 2015’s most important developments in legal technology? For the past two years, I’ve posted my picks of the top developments in legal tech (2014, 2013). With another year under our belts, it’s time to look back at 2015. 1. Case Law Gets Democratized. 2. Analytics Take Center Stage. The second-biggest legal technology story of 2015 was the acquisition of Lex Machina by LexisNexis. It was a significant deal in itself, but even more so for what it signals about the direction...
January 3, 2016
What have been 2015’s most important developments in legal technology? For the past two years, I’ve posted my picks of the top developments in legal tech (2014, 2013). With another year under our belts, it’s time to look back at 2015. 1. Case Law Gets Democratized. 2. Analytics Take Center Stage. The second-biggest legal technology story of 2015 was the acquisition of Lex Machina by LexisNexis. It was a significant deal in itself, but even more so for what it signals about the direction...
LSAC Statement Attacking Law School Transparency
January 2, 2016
Law School Transparency, an advocacy organization for the interests of law school applicants and students, recently released a report entitled 2015 State of Legal Education. The report touches on many issues related to the current law school climate, but one central focus is on explaining about the effect of declining law school LSAT scores on law graduates' prospects for passing the bar. The report attempted to draw attention to the fact that the declining quality of the law school applicant pool...
January 2, 2016
Law School Transparency, an advocacy organization for the interests of law school applicants and students, recently released a report entitled 2015 State of Legal Education. The report touches on many issues related to the current law school climate, but one central focus is on explaining about the effect of declining law school LSAT scores on law graduates' prospects for passing the bar. The report attempted to draw attention to the fact that the declining quality of the law school applicant pool...
LawSites 10 Most Popular Posts of 2015
January 2, 2016
Microsoft Readies Launch of Practice Management Product for Lawyers (Jan. 12, 2015). 13 15 17 18 20 States Have Adopted Ethical Duty of Technology Competence (March 16, 2015). Shake-Up In Legal Research: Fastcase Acquires Loislaw From Wolters-Kluwer (Sept. 21, 2015). New ‘Redact Assistant’ Easily Redacts Word and Excel Files (Feb. 25, 2015). Striking a Blow Against Legalese: Adobe’s Legal Department Open Sources Its Plain-English Style Guide (July 15, 2015). Westlaw’s Days...
January 2, 2016
Microsoft Readies Launch of Practice Management Product for Lawyers (Jan. 12, 2015). 13 15 17 18 20 States Have Adopted Ethical Duty of Technology Competence (March 16, 2015). Shake-Up In Legal Research: Fastcase Acquires Loislaw From Wolters-Kluwer (Sept. 21, 2015). New ‘Redact Assistant’ Easily Redacts Word and Excel Files (Feb. 25, 2015). Striking a Blow Against Legalese: Adobe’s Legal Department Open Sources Its Plain-English Style Guide (July 15, 2015). Westlaw’s Days...
Chief Justice Urges Culture Change to Speed Civil Litigation
January 1, 2016
Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. on Thursday urged federal judges and lawyers to redouble their efforts to make civil litigation more just and efficient, admonishing them to change the legal culture and narrow the scope of discovery. Roberts’ annual report on the federal judiciary focused entirely on the “just, speedy and efficient resolution of civil disputes,” as he highlighted new revisions in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that are aimed at achieving those goals. They took effect...
January 1, 2016
Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. on Thursday urged federal judges and lawyers to redouble their efforts to make civil litigation more just and efficient, admonishing them to change the legal culture and narrow the scope of discovery. Roberts’ annual report on the federal judiciary focused entirely on the “just, speedy and efficient resolution of civil disputes,” as he highlighted new revisions in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that are aimed at achieving those goals. They took effect...
Chief Justice Roberts Issues 2015 Year-End Report
January 1, 2016
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has issued his 2015 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary (pdf), focusing on amendments made to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The report is the eleventh since Roberts was appointed chief justice in 2005. For reports from previous years, visit the U.S. Supreme Court website. 2015 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary In 1838, John Lyde Wilson, a former governor of South Carolina, made a grim contribution to the literature of dispute resolution...
January 1, 2016
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has issued his 2015 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary (pdf), focusing on amendments made to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The report is the eleventh since Roberts was appointed chief justice in 2005. For reports from previous years, visit the U.S. Supreme Court website. 2015 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary In 1838, John Lyde Wilson, a former governor of South Carolina, made a grim contribution to the literature of dispute resolution...
Which Schools Produce the Most Super Lawyers?
December 31, 2015
The National Jurist took this analysis a step further to see which law schools produced the most Clark Kents of the legal...
December 31, 2015
The National Jurist took this analysis a step further to see which law schools produced the most Clark Kents of the legal...
Law Firms Slow to Respond to Diversification Threat of Big Four Accountants
December 30, 2015
Law firms have failed to hit back with equal force to the 'pretty bold statements' made by the Big Four accountancy firms this year as they beef up their legal arms, according to a leading analyst. Noting the lack of a strong response, Marc Totaro, national manager of professional services at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said: 'We're not seeing the same responses from the top legal firms. They're not talking around diversifying their core offerings as well, so I think there's a real challenge...
December 30, 2015
Law firms have failed to hit back with equal force to the 'pretty bold statements' made by the Big Four accountancy firms this year as they beef up their legal arms, according to a leading analyst. Noting the lack of a strong response, Marc Totaro, national manager of professional services at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said: 'We're not seeing the same responses from the top legal firms. They're not talking around diversifying their core offerings as well, so I think there's a real challenge...
