From the press release: “Dean Joan Howarth and the Michigan State University College of Law faculty are pleased to welcome James Chen as the Justin Smith Morrill Chair in Law. Professor Chen is a prolific scholar and leader in the legal academy who most recently served as dean of the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville from 2007 through June 2012. In late November 2012, National Jurist magazine named Chen one of the 25 most influential people in legal education.”
“Do I have a case? What is our likely exposure? How much is this going to cost? What will happen if we leave this particular provision out of this contract? How can we best staff this particular legal matter? These are core questions asked by sophisticated clients such as general counsels as well as consumers at the retail level. Whether generated by a mental model or a sophisticated algorithm, prediction is a core component of the guidance that lawyers offer. Indeed, it is by generating informed answers to these types of questions that many lawyers earn their respective wage.
Every single day lawyers and law firms are providing predictions to their clients regarding their prospects in litigation and the cost associated with its pursuit (defense). How are these predictions being generated? Precisely what data or model is being leveraged? Could a subset of these predictions be improved by access to outcome data in a large number of ‘similar’ cases. Simply put, the answer is yes. Quantitative legal prediction already plays a significant role in certain practice areas and this role is likely increase as greater access to appropriate legal data becomes available.
This article is dedicated to highlighting the coming age of Quantitative Legal Prediction with hopes that practicing lawyers, law students and law schools will take heed and prepare to survive (thrive) in this new ordering. Simply put, most lawyers, law schools and law students are going to have to do more to prepare for the data driven future of this industry. In other words, welcome to Law’s Information Revolution and yeah – there is going to be math on the exam.”
Access the paper HERE.
Having recently tried the Google Glasses during my visit to the Bay Area – I am pretty excited for the day displayed above!
On Monday, I will be speaking at the Legal Futures Conference at the Royal Bank of Scotland Offices in Central London. The topic is the “Cutting Edge of Law” and all of respective speakers can lay claim to that title (in one form or another). Thus, I am looking forward to an exciting day centered around the future of the legal services industry. Congrats to Neil Rose from The Guardian for organizing such a fantastic lineup!
