Tag: artificial intelligence and law
Supercharging Patent Lawyers With AI (via IEEE Spectrum)
In my recent article, Quantitative Legal Prediction – or – How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Start Preparing for the Data Driven Future of the Legal Services Industry 62 Emory Law Journal 909 (2013), I discuss how companies like Lex Machina are creating a more efficient and data driven legal industry. Next semester at MSU Law, Michael Bommarito and I will co-teach a course called “Legal Analytics.” This is a follow on the introductory course that I teach called “Quantitative Methods for Lawyers.” In Legal Analytics, students will be exposed to cutting edge predictive analytics approaches such as machine learning, natural language processing, network science, etc. Students will apply their skills on real datasets that are available from published papers or from some our industry partners. Thus, the course will mix theory with practical applications useful for the practice of law as we move forward into the 21st Century.
The #LegalHack Movement -or- The HomeBrew Computer Club of the Legal Industry
#Legal Hacking is a Movement. This is what Robert Richards from Legal Informatics Blog declared back in 2012. It turned out to be a very accurate prediction. The rise of the legal hack movement is among the most interesting developments in our industry — with significant growth coming in the second half of 2013.
Thousands of individuals in the #LegalHack movement are coming together across the globe to connect, discuss and try solve persistent problems that plague both the legal industry and public sector / judiciary. The past months alone have featured more than 10 events in locations such as Washington, DC, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Bologna, Brasila, London, Geneva, Ottawa, Brooklyn, Paris, etc. RC Richards has been compiling a list here.
Additionally, there are law+technology meetup events taking place in locations such as Seattle, Cincinnati, Austin, Los Angeles, etc.
While certainly not a silver bullet for all problems, technology can potentially help alleviate some of the persistent issues in both the private and public sector including firm efficiency, access to justice, better courts and a better justice system, more effective regulation, perhaps a less dysfunctional congress (well – that might be impossible) …
I should just note for those of you not familiar with this fact – “hacking” has multiple meanings. The context in play here is the positive sense of the word -> developing creative solutions to particular problems that exist in the world (rather than say committing crime using a computer). So the well know site Lifehacker (which helps me all of the time) is devoted to hacking your life in order to make it easier.
For the legal industry, this looks a lot like the HomeBrew Computer Club (circa about 1976)!
Network Analysis and Law Tutorial – Katz + Bommarito
Above is a tutorial that Mike and I developed for the Jurix Conference in Vienna in December of 2011. Feel free to message if I can answer any questions.
Global Patent Map Reveals the Structure of Technological Progress (via MIT Technology Review)
This is topic of great interest for a number of reasons. Mike, Jon and I have several papers in this basic direction (with hopefully more coming soon). Probably the most relevant of our paper is “Distance Measures for Dynamic Citation Networks” which we published in Physica A back in late-2010. For those who might be interested – a copy of our paper (with James H. Fowler) is available on SSRN and on ArXiv.
Honored to Be Named to the Fastcase 50 – Innovative Thinkers in Law
From the Announcement: “2013 was the Year of Reinvention, with innovators gathering at several national conferences pushing the boundaries of the business of law, using software, algorithms, and new pricing models for lawyers as a way to better provide legal services to the middle class. New companies challenged our assumptions about legal research, and established challengers hit their stride as much larger enterprises. Bar associations and law professors sought to change some of the most traditional legal organizations serving law students and lawyers. The Fastcase 50 classes of 2011 and 2012 were an inspiration. This year, you submitted a record number of nominations, and we are pleased to honor the Fastcase 50 Class of 2013.”
I am honored to have been named to this list for 2013!
Using Algorithmic Attribution Techniques to Determine Authorship In Unsigned Judicial Opinions
From the Abstract: “This Article proposes a novel and provocative analysis of judicial opinions that are published without indicating individual authorship. Our approach provides an unbiased, quantitative, and computer scientific answer to a problem that has long plagued legal commentators. Our work uses natural language processing to predict authorship of judicial opinions that are unsigned or whose attribution is disputed. Using a dataset of Supreme Court opinions with known authorship, we identify key words and phrases that can, to a high degree of accuracy, predict authorship. Thus, our method makes accessible an important class of cases heretofore inaccessible. For illustrative purposes, we explain our process as applied to the Obamacare decision, in which the authorship of a joint dissent was subject to significant popular speculation. We conclude with a chart predicting the author of every unsigned per curiam opinion during the Roberts Court.” <HT: Josh Blackman>
Legal Week Strategic Technology Forum
Today I have the pleasure of serving as the Keynote Speaker at LegalWeek Strategic Technology Forum at the Grand Hotel Palazzo della Fonte just outside of Rome. This is a very intimate gathering of the managing partners and/or chief technology officers of the some of the world’s largest law firms. Participating law firms include but are not limited to: Allen & Overy, Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Hogan Lovells, Ashurst, Berrymans Lace Mawer, Berwin Leighton Paisner, Bird & Bird, Irwin Mitchell, Charles Russell, Herbert Smith Freehills, RPC, DAC Beachcroft, AKD, DWF, Lewis Silkin, Nabarro, SJ Berwin, Taylor Wessing, Trowers & Hamlins, Mayer Brown, Al Tamimi & Company, Thrings, CMS Derks Star Busmann, CMS Hasche Sigle, Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira, Fidal, Kromann Reumert, Latham & Watkins, Leigh Day & Co, Osborne Clarke, Perkins Coie, Pinsent Masons, Riverview Law, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Law – ICAIL Rome 2013
Today I had the pleasure of attending the opening workshops/tutorials at the ICAIL Conference in Rome. The program continues tomorrow with the core conference and accepted papers. While I unfortunately will not be able to attend all of the meeting, I suggest that you click here or above to access the program and list of presentations.