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Panama Papers Could Encourage More Divorce Challenges
April 11, 2016
Family lawyers argue that the high-profile Panama Papers leak has lifted public and judicial awareness about spouses who hide wealth offshore during divorce proceedings. Though the revelation that individuals hide their money in overseas investments to shield it from divorce settlements was no big news to family lawyers, some believe that the press storm surrounding the Panama Papers may lead to a greater number of related claims being properly investigated during divorce proceedings. 'Any...
April 11, 2016
Family lawyers argue that the high-profile Panama Papers leak has lifted public and judicial awareness about spouses who hide wealth offshore during divorce proceedings. Though the revelation that individuals hide their money in overseas investments to shield it from divorce settlements was no big news to family lawyers, some believe that the press storm surrounding the Panama Papers may lead to a greater number of related claims being properly investigated during divorce proceedings. 'Any...
Can AI Replace Lawyers? Vanderbilt Law Event to Address Legal Machines
April 11, 2016
The April 13 and 14 event will feature experts in AI and law as well as ROSS, the world’s ‘first artificially intelligent attorney.’ When people discuss artificial intelligence (AI) replacing jobs, rarely are they thinking about lawyers. Nevertheless in recent years, AI has factored into the legal profession, leaving those in-the-know to wonder: Will AI be a top-resource or replacement. Attempting to answer this question is “Watson, Esq. Will Your Next Lawyer Be a Machine?,” an April...
April 11, 2016
The April 13 and 14 event will feature experts in AI and law as well as ROSS, the world’s ‘first artificially intelligent attorney.’ When people discuss artificial intelligence (AI) replacing jobs, rarely are they thinking about lawyers. Nevertheless in recent years, AI has factored into the legal profession, leaving those in-the-know to wonder: Will AI be a top-resource or replacement. Attempting to answer this question is “Watson, Esq. Will Your Next Lawyer Be a Machine?,” an April...
Arbitration Provisions, Professional Organizations Edition
April 11, 2016
People keep challenging arbitration provisions, and they keep losing. In this instance, a case out of Washington called Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services of Seattle, Inc. v. Yates, Wood & MacDonald, Inc., No. 73199-8-I. This time, the parties were both voluntary members of the Commercial Broker's Association (the "CBA"), the bylaws of which contained a clause that CBA members agreed to arbitrate disputes with each other according to the CBA's arbitration procedure. Neither...
April 11, 2016
People keep challenging arbitration provisions, and they keep losing. In this instance, a case out of Washington called Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services of Seattle, Inc. v. Yates, Wood & MacDonald, Inc., No. 73199-8-I. This time, the parties were both voluntary members of the Commercial Broker's Association (the "CBA"), the bylaws of which contained a clause that CBA members agreed to arbitrate disputes with each other according to the CBA's arbitration procedure. Neither...
Fifty Shades of Manipulation
April 10, 2016
A statement or action can be said to be manipulative if it does not sufficiently engage or appeal to people’s capacity for reflective and deliberative choice. One problem with manipulation, thus understood, is that it fails to respect people’s autonomy and is an affront to their dignity. Another problem is that if they are products of manipulation, people’s choices might fail to promote their own welfare, and might instead promote the welfare of the manipulator. To that extent, the central...
April 10, 2016
A statement or action can be said to be manipulative if it does not sufficiently engage or appeal to people’s capacity for reflective and deliberative choice. One problem with manipulation, thus understood, is that it fails to respect people’s autonomy and is an affront to their dignity. Another problem is that if they are products of manipulation, people’s choices might fail to promote their own welfare, and might instead promote the welfare of the manipulator. To that extent, the central...
Texas PACER-like System Launching This Year
April 10, 2016
It's really happening: Texas is going to get its own version of PACER, destined to debut for judges June 1 and for lawyers in December. The federal courts' beloved Public Access to Court Electronic Records system allows lawyers, judges and the public to go online to access court cases nationwide. Ever since the Texas Supreme Court began pondering statewide electronic filing in Texas, it envisioned something like PACER for the state. Enter the Registered Access to Court Electronic Records (RACER)...
April 10, 2016
It's really happening: Texas is going to get its own version of PACER, destined to debut for judges June 1 and for lawyers in December. The federal courts' beloved Public Access to Court Electronic Records system allows lawyers, judges and the public to go online to access court cases nationwide. Ever since the Texas Supreme Court began pondering statewide electronic filing in Texas, it envisioned something like PACER for the state. Enter the Registered Access to Court Electronic Records (RACER)...
Zuckerberg Education Ventures backs learning assistant camera app Volley
April 10, 2016
“This is so fast it feels like cheating” students tell Volley. The education startup’s app lets students point their...
April 10, 2016
“This is so fast it feels like cheating” students tell Volley. The education startup’s app lets students point their...
AI & The Future of Civilization
April 9, 2016
Some tough questions. One of them is about the future of the human condition. That's a big question. I've spent some part of my life figuring out how to make machines automate stuff. It's pretty obvious that we can automate many of the things that we humans have been proud of for a long time. What's the future of the human condition in that situation? More particularly, I see technology as taking human goals and making them able to be automatically executed by machines. The human goals that we've...
April 9, 2016
Some tough questions. One of them is about the future of the human condition. That's a big question. I've spent some part of my life figuring out how to make machines automate stuff. It's pretty obvious that we can automate many of the things that we humans have been proud of for a long time. What's the future of the human condition in that situation? More particularly, I see technology as taking human goals and making them able to be automatically executed by machines. The human goals that we've...
New LexisNexis Legislative Tool Predicts the Probability of a Bill’s Passage
April 9, 2016
LexisNexis today introduced a new legislative tracking tool, Legislative Outlook, that uses predictive analytics and data...
April 9, 2016
LexisNexis today introduced a new legislative tracking tool, Legislative Outlook, that uses predictive analytics and data...
Rocket Lawyer CEO On the Quick Demise of ABA Pilot Program
April 9, 2016
In October 2015, the American Bar Association and San Francisco-based online legal services provider Rocket Lawyer Inc. teamed...
April 9, 2016
In October 2015, the American Bar Association and San Francisco-based online legal services provider Rocket Lawyer Inc. teamed...
Mortgage Servicing 101
April 8, 2016
In Villarreal v. Wells Fargo Bank, the Fifth Circuit published a straightforward Rule 12 affirmance in a mortgage servicing case, likely to make abundantly clear what law governs several recurring issues in such cases. Those principles include: (1) a plaintiff’s failure to allege her own performance bars a breach of contract claim, (2) a negligence claim about servicing should arise from a duty independent of the contract, (3) a wrongful foreclosure claim requires allegation of the allegedly...
April 8, 2016
In Villarreal v. Wells Fargo Bank, the Fifth Circuit published a straightforward Rule 12 affirmance in a mortgage servicing case, likely to make abundantly clear what law governs several recurring issues in such cases. Those principles include: (1) a plaintiff’s failure to allege her own performance bars a breach of contract claim, (2) a negligence claim about servicing should arise from a duty independent of the contract, (3) a wrongful foreclosure claim requires allegation of the allegedly...
