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New Survey Paints Picture of Innovation and Technology at Law Firms
May 27, 2018
When firms were asked whether they had specifically tasked anyone with responsibility for innovation, 29.7 percent answered yes. Large law firms of 500 or more lawyers were more than twice as likely to have such a person, with 55.9 percent answering yes. Whether firms have tasked anyone with innovation, by size. Firms were also asked about which technologies had the greatest impact on efficiency. The top five technologies that firms said had either a moderate or high impact on efficiency...
May 27, 2018
When firms were asked whether they had specifically tasked anyone with responsibility for innovation, 29.7 percent answered yes. Large law firms of 500 or more lawyers were more than twice as likely to have such a person, with 55.9 percent answering yes. Whether firms have tasked anyone with innovation, by size. Firms were also asked about which technologies had the greatest impact on efficiency. The top five technologies that firms said had either a moderate or high impact on efficiency...
Vanderbilt Law School’s Larry Bridgesmith Becomes First Legal Educator to Use EmpowerLegal’s Video Training Platform to Successfully Educate and Engage Students
May 26, 2018
Many law schools are becoming more innovative in preparing students for legal careers, leveraging the power of online technology tools to complement traditional classroom learning. Larry Bridgesmith, a professor at Vanderbilt Law School and coordinator of its Program on Law & Innovation (PoLI), is dedicated to finding effective tools to educate his students on both the theory and actual experience of law practice. Bridgesmith recently discovered EmpowerLegal, an online training provider...
May 26, 2018
Many law schools are becoming more innovative in preparing students for legal careers, leveraging the power of online technology tools to complement traditional classroom learning. Larry Bridgesmith, a professor at Vanderbilt Law School and coordinator of its Program on Law & Innovation (PoLI), is dedicated to finding effective tools to educate his students on both the theory and actual experience of law practice. Bridgesmith recently discovered EmpowerLegal, an online training provider...
Do Checklists Make a Difference? A Natural Experiment from Food Safety Enforcement
May 26, 2018
Inspired by Atul Gawande's bestselling Checklist Manifesto, many commentators have called for checklists to solve complex problems in law and public policy. We study a unique natural experiment to provide the first systematic evidence of checklists in law. In 2005, the Public Health Department of Seattle and King County revised its health code, subjecting half of inspection items to a checklist, with others remaining on a free‐form recall basis. Through in‐depth qualitative analysis, we identify...
May 26, 2018
Inspired by Atul Gawande's bestselling Checklist Manifesto, many commentators have called for checklists to solve complex problems in law and public policy. We study a unique natural experiment to provide the first systematic evidence of checklists in law. In 2005, the Public Health Department of Seattle and King County revised its health code, subjecting half of inspection items to a checklist, with others remaining on a free‐form recall basis. Through in‐depth qualitative analysis, we identify...
The New Handshake: Using ODR to Create Value for Consumers and Businesses
May 25, 2018
My first post is about The New Handshake: Online Dispute Resolution and the Future of Consumer Protection, by my colleague, Amy Schmitz, and ODR guru Colin Rule. It’s a great collaboration that takes advantage of Amy’s scholarship and Colin’s practical experience from being eBay’s ODR director and co-founder of Modria as well as from his current work as Tyler Technology’s VP for ODR. ODR can help address a problem often referred to as “access to justice” (A2J). In the plenary...
May 25, 2018
My first post is about The New Handshake: Online Dispute Resolution and the Future of Consumer Protection, by my colleague, Amy Schmitz, and ODR guru Colin Rule. It’s a great collaboration that takes advantage of Amy’s scholarship and Colin’s practical experience from being eBay’s ODR director and co-founder of Modria as well as from his current work as Tyler Technology’s VP for ODR. ODR can help address a problem often referred to as “access to justice” (A2J). In the plenary...
Judging Judicial Foreclosure
May 25, 2018
For the third time in the last several decades, policymakers are contemplating an overhaul of mortgage‐finance regulations. Despite the considerable attention paid to how ex ante regulations affect the availability of credit and the appropriateness of the mortgage products that lenders offer, however, our understanding of how the legal framework governing foreclosures—a form of ex post borrower protection—affects mortgage lending is incomplete. Leveraging data on loan applicants that are geographically...
May 25, 2018
For the third time in the last several decades, policymakers are contemplating an overhaul of mortgage‐finance regulations. Despite the considerable attention paid to how ex ante regulations affect the availability of credit and the appropriateness of the mortgage products that lenders offer, however, our understanding of how the legal framework governing foreclosures—a form of ex post borrower protection—affects mortgage lending is incomplete. Leveraging data on loan applicants that are geographically...
Judicial Analytics Company Gavelytics Expands with New Rulings Database and Arbitrator Archive
May 24, 2018
When last we wrote about judicial analytics company Gavelytics on March 13, it was announcing a $3.2 million funding round to support development of new features and expansion into additional jurisdictions. Today, the first two of these new features roll out — a rulings database and an arbitrator archive. With today’s enhancements, Gavelytics adds two features: Trial court rulings. This databases includes thousands of Los Angeles trial court orders dating back to 2000....
May 24, 2018
When last we wrote about judicial analytics company Gavelytics on March 13, it was announcing a $3.2 million funding round to support development of new features and expansion into additional jurisdictions. Today, the first two of these new features roll out — a rulings database and an arbitrator archive. With today’s enhancements, Gavelytics adds two features: Trial court rulings. This databases includes thousands of Los Angeles trial court orders dating back to 2000....
Jury Pool Underrepresentation in the Modern Era: Evidence from Federal Courts
May 24, 2018
Despite a constitutional mandate that jury pools in the United States be representative of their communities, almost no datasets...
May 24, 2018
Despite a constitutional mandate that jury pools in the United States be representative of their communities, almost no datasets...
Supreme Court Will Determine If Silence in an Arbitration Clause May Be Judicially Interpreted to Permit Class Arbitration
May 23, 2018
On April 30, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to review an unpublished Ninth Circuit decision in Varela v. Lamps Plus, Inc., No. 16-56085 (9thCir. Aug. 3, 2017). See Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela (No. 17-988, U.S. Sup.). Lamps Plus framed the question presented to the Supreme Court as follows: “Whether the Federal Arbitration Act [“FAA”] forecloses a state-law interpretation of an arbitration agreement that would authorize class arbitration based solely on general language...
May 23, 2018
On April 30, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to review an unpublished Ninth Circuit decision in Varela v. Lamps Plus, Inc., No. 16-56085 (9thCir. Aug. 3, 2017). See Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela (No. 17-988, U.S. Sup.). Lamps Plus framed the question presented to the Supreme Court as follows: “Whether the Federal Arbitration Act [“FAA”] forecloses a state-law interpretation of an arbitration agreement that would authorize class arbitration based solely on general language...
Opinion Analysis: Employers Prevail in Arbitration Case
May 23, 2018
In 1925, Congress passed the Federal Arbitration Act, which (among other things) provides that an agreement to arbitrate...
May 23, 2018
In 1925, Congress passed the Federal Arbitration Act, which (among other things) provides that an agreement to arbitrate...
Justice Gorsuch Delivered . . . A Win For Class Arbitration Waivers
May 22, 2018
SCOTUS finally delivered its decision today in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, the consolidated case that addresses whether...
May 22, 2018
SCOTUS finally delivered its decision today in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, the consolidated case that addresses whether...
