For those of you considering attending law school (particularly those with a technical prior background) please understand that although it may appear so on first glance – not all law schools are alike.  At MSU Law, we are fully engaged in what is happening in the legal services industry. Things are changing very quickly and we are working to adapt rapidly to that change.

For example, we are in the process of proposing or rolling new courses including – Quantitative Methods for Lawyers (which focuses on quantitative thinking, technology and the business of law practice), E-Discovery, Entrepreneurial Lawyering as well as several others (to be announced).

In addition, we have just started our 21st Century Law Practice – London Summer Program which is “a first of its kind, intensive study of technology, innovation, deregulation, entrepreneurship and the international legal marketplace. With the deregulation of lawyers in the United Kingdom and the outgrowth of alternative legal services delivery models, London is poised to become the global leader in the legal services market. Our program will educate students about these new delivery models and help prepare students for the technology infused law jobs of the 21st Century.”

Anyway, I look forward to speaking tomorrow. If you are here for #LTNY please feel to drop in at the session — I will be speaking tomorrow about Quantitative Legal Prediction from 1:45pm – 3:00pm in The Power of Data section.

• (a) Community Detection in Networks
• (b) Computational Linguistics / Natural Language Processing
• (c) Diffusion Models and Mathematical Modeling with Data
• (d) Exponential Random Graph (p*) Models
• (e) Big Data/ Information Retrieval / Webscraping

Although, we do not work with more advanced languages within the course, those who need to conduct complex analysis are directed to alternatives such as R, Python, Java, etc.

Anyway, the slides are designed to be fully self-contained and thus allow for individually paced study of the relevant material. If you work through the slides carefully you should be able to learn the software as well as many of the core principles associated with the science of complex systems. The material should be available online indefinitely. If you have questions, feel free to email me.

Having recently returned from the LegalFutures.co.uk meeting on alternative business structures (ABS), I can report there are number of important developments taking place across the pond. Developing the next generation of legal service delivery is question of supply chain, scale efficiency, software aided point of sale legal practice, access to capital markets, marketing,  queueing theory, legal information technology – you know – all of the things that we teach students in law school (see my MIT School of Law proposal for a potential way forward — #icebergsahead )

For additional thoughts and related questions – check out Renee Knake’s round up @ Legal Ethics Forum and last month’s Unlocking the Law Symposium @ Truth on the Market.

Friend of the CLS Blog Drew Conway has started a fantastic organization called Data Without Borders. DWB seeks to match non-profits in need of data analysis with freelance and pro bono data scientists who can work to help them with data collection, analysis, visualization, or decision support. Check out the video to learn more!

While I really appreciate the spirit of this article, I have to say that the question posed by the author is not actually the critical one.  As noted by Larry Ribstein in his post “Lawyers in Jeopardy” — the primary question raised by Watson and other forms of soft to medium artificial intelligence is their impact on the market for legal services. In thinking about this broader problem, I am haunted by the line from There Will be Blood – “I Drink Your Milkshake.”  In this metaphor, technology is the straw and the legal information engineer is Daniel Day Lewis.

It is worth noting that although high-end offerings such as Watson represent a looming threat to a variety of professional services — one need not look to something as lofty as Watson to realize the future is likely to be turbulent. Law’s Information Revolution is already underway and it is a revolution in data and a revolution in software.  Software is eating the world and the market for legal services has already been impacted.  This is only the beginning.  We are at the very cusp of a data driven revolution that will usher in new fields such as Quantitative Legal Prediction (which I have discussed here).

Pressure on Big Law will continue.  Simply consider the extent to which large institutional clients are growing in their sophistication.  These clients are developing the data-streams necessary to effectively challenge their legal bills.  Whether this challenge is coming from corporate procurement departments, corporate law departments or with the aid of third parties – the times they are indeed a-changin’.

A variety of intermediary consulting firms and legal informatics companies have developed a robust business advising corporate clients how to find various arbitrage opportunities in the legal services market. One of the best examples is TyMetrix — who has recently leveraged more than $4 billion in legal spend data to help General Counsels and their corporate law departments drive down legal costs.  Indeed, The Real Rate Report has made a huge splash (if you do know what I am talking about – I suggest you learn – because it is a pretty big deal).