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Texas Launches Its Own Version of PACER, But Only a Few Lawyers Will Have Access
March 27, 2017
A dream recently came true for many for Texas lawyers as a database has been created that keeps track of all state and county court civil pleadings, much like the federal court's beloved Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER). And the Texas Supreme Court just approved a rule that grants access to the new state system — but only to a few attorneys. The system, known as re:SearchTX, is designed to allow attorneys to access civil case records in any of the hundreds of district and county...
March 27, 2017
A dream recently came true for many for Texas lawyers as a database has been created that keeps track of all state and county court civil pleadings, much like the federal court's beloved Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER). And the Texas Supreme Court just approved a rule that grants access to the new state system — but only to a few attorneys. The system, known as re:SearchTX, is designed to allow attorneys to access civil case records in any of the hundreds of district and county...
Court Statistics Project releases new edition of Examining the Work of State Courts
March 27, 2017
The new edition of Examining the Work of State Courts reports that total state court caseloads continued their steady decline, dropping an additional 5 percent between 2014 and 2015. Criminal, juvenile, and domestic relations cases leveled off from 2014 to 2015, while civil and traffic/violations cases continued to drop. The reasons for the decline, which began in 2008, include reductions in budgets and services throughout the criminal and juvenile justice system, changes in driving habits and automobile...
March 27, 2017
The new edition of Examining the Work of State Courts reports that total state court caseloads continued their steady decline, dropping an additional 5 percent between 2014 and 2015. Criminal, juvenile, and domestic relations cases leveled off from 2014 to 2015, while civil and traffic/violations cases continued to drop. The reasons for the decline, which began in 2008, include reductions in budgets and services throughout the criminal and juvenile justice system, changes in driving habits and automobile...
Super Humans Will Arrive by 2029 as Brains Begin to Fuse with Machines, Google Expert Claims
March 26, 2017
Technological singularity will turn us into super humans some time in the next 12 years, according to a Google expert. This might sound like science fiction, but Google's Director of Engineering, Ray Kurzweil, has made 147 predictions since the 1990s and has a success rate of 86 per cent. Kurzweil says when we live in a cybernetic society we will have computers in our brains and machines will be smarter than human beings.
March 26, 2017
Technological singularity will turn us into super humans some time in the next 12 years, according to a Google expert. This might sound like science fiction, but Google's Director of Engineering, Ray Kurzweil, has made 147 predictions since the 1990s and has a success rate of 86 per cent. Kurzweil says when we live in a cybernetic society we will have computers in our brains and machines will be smarter than human beings.
Lex Machina’s 2016 Securities Litigation Report Reveals 23 Percent Increase in Case Filings
March 26, 2017
-Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs are among top defendants; Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Credit Suisse were...
March 26, 2017
-Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs are among top defendants; Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Credit Suisse were...
Circle time rituals help children beat the Marshmallow Test of Self Control
March 26, 2017
Sweet, old-fashioned circle time rituals involve young children sitting in a circle with a teacher and copying his or her specific actions as closely as possible. These rituals can seem a bit out of place in today’s culture with its emphasis on the importance of independent thinking, and the ubiquity of interactive educational games employing the latest beeps and whistles of technology. But a new study in Child Development says there is something about the conformity and attention to detail in ritualistic...
March 26, 2017
Sweet, old-fashioned circle time rituals involve young children sitting in a circle with a teacher and copying his or her specific actions as closely as possible. These rituals can seem a bit out of place in today’s culture with its emphasis on the importance of independent thinking, and the ubiquity of interactive educational games employing the latest beeps and whistles of technology. But a new study in Child Development says there is something about the conformity and attention to detail in ritualistic...
Microsoft and Google’s Cloud Tools Compete for Attorney Attention
March 25, 2017
As cloud hosting becomes a staple of law firm and in-house legal department technology strategies, a few power hitters have risen to the top of the heap. Perhaps as no surprise, forefront among those top players are Microsoft's Office 365 and Google's G-Suite. Microsoft and Google both offer software alongside data storage in their respective cloud offerings. Support for tool integration and real-time collaboration seem to distinguish one offering from the other. Traditionally, Microsoft's...
March 25, 2017
As cloud hosting becomes a staple of law firm and in-house legal department technology strategies, a few power hitters have risen to the top of the heap. Perhaps as no surprise, forefront among those top players are Microsoft's Office 365 and Google's G-Suite. Microsoft and Google both offer software alongside data storage in their respective cloud offerings. Support for tool integration and real-time collaboration seem to distinguish one offering from the other. Traditionally, Microsoft's...
Trucking Firms Could Improve Safety, Productivity With Big Data
March 25, 2017
The trucking industry loses billions of dollars and wastes millions of hours each year sitting idle in traffic. Helping drivers avoid congestion would increase productivity and improve safety, says a team of Iowa State University and industry researchers. The team has identified a solution using big data technology. The challenge is finding the most effective way to share data collected by state traffic centers across the country with carriers and drivers. Dave Cantor, an associate professor...
March 25, 2017
The trucking industry loses billions of dollars and wastes millions of hours each year sitting idle in traffic. Helping drivers avoid congestion would increase productivity and improve safety, says a team of Iowa State University and industry researchers. The team has identified a solution using big data technology. The challenge is finding the most effective way to share data collected by state traffic centers across the country with carriers and drivers. Dave Cantor, an associate professor...
AI’s PR Problem
March 25, 2017
Had artificial intelligence been named something less spooky, we’d probably worry about it less. Artificial intelligence, it seems, has a PR problem. While it’s true that today’s machines can credibly perform many tasks (playing chess, driving cars) that were once reserved for humans, that doesn’t mean that the machines are growing more intelligent and ambitious. It just means they’re doing what we built them to do. The robots may be coming, but they are not coming for us—because...
March 25, 2017
Had artificial intelligence been named something less spooky, we’d probably worry about it less. Artificial intelligence, it seems, has a PR problem. While it’s true that today’s machines can credibly perform many tasks (playing chess, driving cars) that were once reserved for humans, that doesn’t mean that the machines are growing more intelligent and ambitious. It just means they’re doing what we built them to do. The robots may be coming, but they are not coming for us—because...
An Inside Look at the Jury Experience
March 24, 2017
The role of the jury in protecting the rights of Americans in criminal and civil cases is the focus of a U.S. Courts video discussion featuring two U.S. district judges, a clerk of court, and a law professor and author on the jury process. The panel discussion, titled “Knowledge Seminar: An Inside Look at the Jury Experience,” was held Nov. 17 in Washington, D.C. Panelists included Judge George O’Toole, District of Massachusetts; Judge Reggie Walton, District Court for the District of Columbia;...
March 24, 2017
The role of the jury in protecting the rights of Americans in criminal and civil cases is the focus of a U.S. Courts video discussion featuring two U.S. district judges, a clerk of court, and a law professor and author on the jury process. The panel discussion, titled “Knowledge Seminar: An Inside Look at the Jury Experience,” was held Nov. 17 in Washington, D.C. Panelists included Judge George O’Toole, District of Massachusetts; Judge Reggie Walton, District Court for the District of Columbia;...
Sunstein on Bounded Rationality & Relinquishing Control
March 24, 2017
Cass R. Sunstein (Harvard Law School; Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS)) has posted ‘Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do!’ On the Intrinsic Value of Control (Forthcoming, Introduction, Behavioral Economics Guide 2017) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: For most people, control has some intrinsic value; people care about maintaining it and will pay something to do so. Whenever a private or public institution blocks choices or interferes with agency, some people will rebel, even if exercising...
March 24, 2017
Cass R. Sunstein (Harvard Law School; Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS)) has posted ‘Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do!’ On the Intrinsic Value of Control (Forthcoming, Introduction, Behavioral Economics Guide 2017) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: For most people, control has some intrinsic value; people care about maintaining it and will pay something to do so. Whenever a private or public institution blocks choices or interferes with agency, some people will rebel, even if exercising...
