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MIT Launches Laboratory for Social Machines with Major Twitter Investment
October 18, 2014
The MIT Media Lab today announced the creation of the Laboratory for Social Machines (LSM), funded by a five-year, $10 million commitment from Twitter. As part of the new program, Twitter will also provide full access to its real-time, public stream of tweets, as well as the archive of every tweet dating back to the first. The new initiative, based at the Media Lab, will focus on the development of new technologies to make sense of semantic and social patterns across the broad span of public mass...
October 18, 2014
The MIT Media Lab today announced the creation of the Laboratory for Social Machines (LSM), funded by a five-year, $10 million commitment from Twitter. As part of the new program, Twitter will also provide full access to its real-time, public stream of tweets, as well as the archive of every tweet dating back to the first. The new initiative, based at the Media Lab, will focus on the development of new technologies to make sense of semantic and social patterns across the broad span of public mass...
Big Mac Attack: Is the Franchisor a Joint Employer?
October 17, 2014
On July 29, 2014, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a brief statement that could turn labor law in the world of franchising upside down. The NLRB’s General Counsel stated that it plans to go forward with a number of complaints that allege unfair labor practice claims against a McDonald’s franchisee as well as the franchisor, McDonald’s USA, LLC. The NLRB’s position appears to be that the franchisor and franchisee may be “joint employers” of the burger flippers and other...
October 17, 2014
On July 29, 2014, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a brief statement that could turn labor law in the world of franchising upside down. The NLRB’s General Counsel stated that it plans to go forward with a number of complaints that allege unfair labor practice claims against a McDonald’s franchisee as well as the franchisor, McDonald’s USA, LLC. The NLRB’s position appears to be that the franchisor and franchisee may be “joint employers” of the burger flippers and other...
Applying Proportionality, Court Denies Motion to Compel Additional Search for ESI
October 17, 2014
United States v. Univ. Nebraska at Kearney, No. 4:11CV3209, 2014 WL 4215381 (D. Neb. Aug. 25, 2014) In this housing discrimination case, the parties disagreed regarding the proper scope of discovery and plaintiff’s proposed search terms. Plaintiff sought the production of ESI related to requests for accommodation of a disability in every context (e.g., housing, academics, employment, etc.) while defendants sought to limit production to the “housing” or “residential” contexts. The court...
October 17, 2014
United States v. Univ. Nebraska at Kearney, No. 4:11CV3209, 2014 WL 4215381 (D. Neb. Aug. 25, 2014) In this housing discrimination case, the parties disagreed regarding the proper scope of discovery and plaintiff’s proposed search terms. Plaintiff sought the production of ESI related to requests for accommodation of a disability in every context (e.g., housing, academics, employment, etc.) while defendants sought to limit production to the “housing” or “residential” contexts. The court...
Another Milestone Passes: Judicial Conference Approves Federal Civil Rules Amendments
October 17, 2014
As reported by the National Law Journal (subscription required), the Judicial Conference has approved proposed changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. No revisions to the proposals were reported. The proposals will now go before the United States Supreme Court for review and, if approved, will take effect on December 1, 2015, absent any action by Congress to revise or reject the amendments. The rules to be affected by the pending amendments include rules 1, 4, 16, 26, 30, 31, 33 and 34 (collectively...
October 17, 2014
As reported by the National Law Journal (subscription required), the Judicial Conference has approved proposed changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. No revisions to the proposals were reported. The proposals will now go before the United States Supreme Court for review and, if approved, will take effect on December 1, 2015, absent any action by Congress to revise or reject the amendments. The rules to be affected by the pending amendments include rules 1, 4, 16, 26, 30, 31, 33 and 34 (collectively...
Stipanowich on ADR in Construction
October 17, 2014
Tom Stipanowich has posted a new article, “Managing Construction Conflict: Unfinished Revolution, Continuing Evolution,” at the Pepperdine Law Library’s Legal Studies Research Paper Series. Stipanowich is a trained architect, an experienced construction lawyer, and a very experienced construction arbitrator, and his article speaks authoritatively on the past 20 years of change in construction dispute practices. He concludes that the promise of innovation that so dominated the field 20 years...
October 17, 2014
Tom Stipanowich has posted a new article, “Managing Construction Conflict: Unfinished Revolution, Continuing Evolution,” at the Pepperdine Law Library’s Legal Studies Research Paper Series. Stipanowich is a trained architect, an experienced construction lawyer, and a very experienced construction arbitrator, and his article speaks authoritatively on the past 20 years of change in construction dispute practices. He concludes that the promise of innovation that so dominated the field 20 years...
Lex Machina Out With Legal Analytics for Big Pharma
October 17, 2014
Drug manufacturers and their counsel get legal analytics for litigation in new drug applications Lex Machina, a provider...
October 17, 2014
Drug manufacturers and their counsel get legal analytics for litigation in new drug applications Lex Machina, a provider...
Katz and Bommarito: Measuring the Complexity of the Law: The United States Code
October 16, 2014
Daniel Martin Katz and Michael J. Bommarito II have published Measuring the Complexity of the Law: The United States Code, forthcoming in Artificial Intelligence and Law. A preprint of the paper is available on SSRN. Samuel Arbesman has published a post about the paper at Wired Science. Here is the abstract of the paper: Einstein’s razor, a corollary of Ockham’s razor, is often paraphrased as follows: make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler. This rule of thumb describes...
October 16, 2014
Daniel Martin Katz and Michael J. Bommarito II have published Measuring the Complexity of the Law: The United States Code, forthcoming in Artificial Intelligence and Law. A preprint of the paper is available on SSRN. Samuel Arbesman has published a post about the paper at Wired Science. Here is the abstract of the paper: Einstein’s razor, a corollary of Ockham’s razor, is often paraphrased as follows: make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler. This rule of thumb describes...
Women and Negotiation: Permission to Skip the Chit-Chat?
October 16, 2014
Negotiators are often advised to engage in small talk before getting down to business. Indeed, the benefits of chit-chat for rapport building have been well documented. In her research, for example, Professor Janice Nadler of Northwestern University found that pairs of strangers who engaged in a casual five-minute phone chat before participating in a negotiation simulation via e-mail were four times more likely to reach a beneficial agreement than were pairs who didn’t have a chance to chat. But...
October 16, 2014
Negotiators are often advised to engage in small talk before getting down to business. Indeed, the benefits of chit-chat for rapport building have been well documented. In her research, for example, Professor Janice Nadler of Northwestern University found that pairs of strangers who engaged in a casual five-minute phone chat before participating in a negotiation simulation via e-mail were four times more likely to reach a beneficial agreement than were pairs who didn’t have a chance to chat. But...
Solving Legal Problems Will Take Multidisciplinary Help, Says Richard Susskind
October 16, 2014
Asked how legal issues may change under the influence of technology, Richard Susskind, a futurist for the legal profession, sees lawyers’ roles as being part of a solution, but not the solution itself. Lawyers “have to stop thinking of problems as only legal,” Susskind told attendees of the Clio Cloud Conference 2014 in Chicago on Monday. Working on a new book with his son, Susskind said, he is coming to believe that problems must be solved in a “multidisciplinary” fashion involving...
October 16, 2014
Asked how legal issues may change under the influence of technology, Richard Susskind, a futurist for the legal profession, sees lawyers’ roles as being part of a solution, but not the solution itself. Lawyers “have to stop thinking of problems as only legal,” Susskind told attendees of the Clio Cloud Conference 2014 in Chicago on Monday. Working on a new book with his son, Susskind said, he is coming to believe that problems must be solved in a “multidisciplinary” fashion involving...
The Thirsty Mind
October 16, 2014
The latest issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience includes an article by a group of researchers from the Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, at Oxford. The group, which is led by Scott Waddell, studies rewards, motivation, and memory in the comparatively simple brain of the fruit fly. Drosophila melanogaster has been a tiny laboratory workhorse for more than a century, ever since it helped prove the theory of chromosomal inheritance. There are about a hundred thousand neurons in the fruit-fly...
October 16, 2014
The latest issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience includes an article by a group of researchers from the Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, at Oxford. The group, which is led by Scott Waddell, studies rewards, motivation, and memory in the comparatively simple brain of the fruit fly. Drosophila melanogaster has been a tiny laboratory workhorse for more than a century, ever since it helped prove the theory of chromosomal inheritance. There are about a hundred thousand neurons in the fruit-fly...
