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Ex-Google Lawyer on Becoming an Ex-Google Lawyer
June 24, 2014
Michael Yang, the general counsel of the photo-sharing website Pinterest Inc., has been asked so often for advice about leaving Google Inc.’s legal department (which he did) that he has written an essay suggesting what factors to consider when making a move. And Yang, a former deputy general counsel at Google before joining Pinterest in 2012, has plenty of good things to say about his former employer in "Should I Leave Google Legal?" on the social publishing platform Medium. First, Yang asks...
June 24, 2014
Michael Yang, the general counsel of the photo-sharing website Pinterest Inc., has been asked so often for advice about leaving Google Inc.’s legal department (which he did) that he has written an essay suggesting what factors to consider when making a move. And Yang, a former deputy general counsel at Google before joining Pinterest in 2012, has plenty of good things to say about his former employer in "Should I Leave Google Legal?" on the social publishing platform Medium. First, Yang asks...
Lawyers May Look at What Jurors Post Online, But Only if it’s Available to the Public
June 24, 2014
Courts have been dealing for a while now with jurors discussing the trials they're deciding through postings on websites...
June 24, 2014
Courts have been dealing for a while now with jurors discussing the trials they're deciding through postings on websites...
Building Our Maps: Legal Infrastructure in the Age of Data
June 24, 2014
When Google set out to build a self-driving car, it first had to map the physical world. In short, Google had to figure out how to make a red light hanging from a pole—or a person crossing the street—into something a computer could understand and act on. To do this, a myriad of analog data points need to be gathered—by radar, GPS, and other sensors—before they can be turned into the digital signals that can be compared and analyzed. It’s this key infrastructure, akin to building a digital...
June 24, 2014
When Google set out to build a self-driving car, it first had to map the physical world. In short, Google had to figure out how to make a red light hanging from a pole—or a person crossing the street—into something a computer could understand and act on. To do this, a myriad of analog data points need to be gathered—by radar, GPS, and other sensors—before they can be turned into the digital signals that can be compared and analyzed. It’s this key infrastructure, akin to building a digital...
How Will Tomorrow’s Lawyer Compete With Technology?
June 23, 2014
In the article Machines v. Lawyers, Northwestern Law Professor John McGinnis argues that the advancement of technology and ability...
June 23, 2014
In the article Machines v. Lawyers, Northwestern Law Professor John McGinnis argues that the advancement of technology and ability...
Texas Bar Corporate Counsel Section: Online Mediation
June 23, 2014
Business Law Section and Corporate Counsel Section Thursday, June 26, 2014 Austin Convention Center, Room 19AB 8:50...
June 23, 2014
Business Law Section and Corporate Counsel Section Thursday, June 26, 2014 Austin Convention Center, Room 19AB 8:50...
Tweets Track Secret Edits to SCOTUS Opinions
June 18, 2014
Last month, a collective “Really!?” rolled through the U.S. legal community when Harvard Law Professor Richard J. Lazarus published his study — and Adam Liptak reported it in The New York Times — revealing that the Supreme Court sometimes quietly revises its opinions years after they were issued, sometimes in ways that result in “truly substantive changes in factual statements and legal reasoning.” Yes, it turns out that bedrock law you relied on may be a bit looser than anyone knew....
June 18, 2014
Last month, a collective “Really!?” rolled through the U.S. legal community when Harvard Law Professor Richard J. Lazarus published his study — and Adam Liptak reported it in The New York Times — revealing that the Supreme Court sometimes quietly revises its opinions years after they were issued, sometimes in ways that result in “truly substantive changes in factual statements and legal reasoning.” Yes, it turns out that bedrock law you relied on may be a bit looser than anyone knew....
Tech Blamed for McDermott Pink Slips
June 16, 2014
McDermott Will & Emery, a 1,100-lawyer firm based out of Chicago, has laid off 25 secretaries in 20 offices in the name of efficiency, reported by David Lat in Above the Law. “It is clear that the role of legal secretary has changed significantly in recent years as technology has allowed lawyers work with less need for administrative support,” said McDermott COO Bob Koenen in a statement. The decision, he said, was necessary “in order to adjust to the new marketplace realities.” Read...
June 16, 2014
McDermott Will & Emery, a 1,100-lawyer firm based out of Chicago, has laid off 25 secretaries in 20 offices in the name of efficiency, reported by David Lat in Above the Law. “It is clear that the role of legal secretary has changed significantly in recent years as technology has allowed lawyers work with less need for administrative support,” said McDermott COO Bob Koenen in a statement. The decision, he said, was necessary “in order to adjust to the new marketplace realities.” Read...
Law Firm Decides to Grow its Own Clients
June 15, 2014
Readers of this blog are already familiar with the incubator projects started by numerous law schools that provide low cost office space and resources to recent grads trying to start their own firms (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here). The ABA Journal is now reporting that one law firm has helped launch a business start-up incubator project in Chicago as a way to cultivate future clients. The project, called Catapult Chicago, is both a business "incubator" and "accelerator"...
June 15, 2014
Readers of this blog are already familiar with the incubator projects started by numerous law schools that provide low cost office space and resources to recent grads trying to start their own firms (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here). The ABA Journal is now reporting that one law firm has helped launch a business start-up incubator project in Chicago as a way to cultivate future clients. The project, called Catapult Chicago, is both a business "incubator" and "accelerator"...
Computers Will Be Like Humans by 2029: Google’s Ray Kurzweil
June 15, 2014
In less than two decades, you won't just use your computers, you will have relationships with them. Because of artificial intelligence, computers will be able to read at human levels by 2029 and will also begin to have different human characteristics, said Ray Kurzweil, the director of engineering at Google. "My timeline is computers will be at human levels, such as you can have a human relationship with them, 15 years from now," he said. Kurzweil's comments came at the Exponential Finance...
June 15, 2014
In less than two decades, you won't just use your computers, you will have relationships with them. Because of artificial intelligence, computers will be able to read at human levels by 2029 and will also begin to have different human characteristics, said Ray Kurzweil, the director of engineering at Google. "My timeline is computers will be at human levels, such as you can have a human relationship with them, 15 years from now," he said. Kurzweil's comments came at the Exponential Finance...
NewLaw, Innovation, and the Importance of Failure
June 15, 2014
Jordan Furlong is one of the first-rate commentators on the legal industry. He is an excellent observer, a deep thinker, and skilled and stylish communicator. Over at Law 21, Jordan has written a set of companion essays that explain the ferment that is now taking hold in the legal industry. Check them out if you need or want the seemingly complex made simple. The first essay is a highly useful reference guide to NewLaw (#NewLaw), a category coined by the Australian consultant George Beaton....
June 15, 2014
Jordan Furlong is one of the first-rate commentators on the legal industry. He is an excellent observer, a deep thinker, and skilled and stylish communicator. Over at Law 21, Jordan has written a set of companion essays that explain the ferment that is now taking hold in the legal industry. Check them out if you need or want the seemingly complex made simple. The first essay is a highly useful reference guide to NewLaw (#NewLaw), a category coined by the Australian consultant George Beaton....
