The University Student’s Guide To Ethical AI Use  — from studocu.com; with thanks to Jervise Penton at 6XD Media Group for this resource

This comprehensive guide offers:

  • Up-to-date statistics on the current state of AI in universities, how institutions and students are currently using artificial intelligence
  • An overview of popular AI tools used in universities and its limitations as a study tool
  • Tips on how to ethically use AI and how to maximize its capabilities for students
  • Current existing punishment and penalties for cheating using AI
  • A checklist of questions to ask yourself, before, during, and after an assignment to ensure ethical use

Some of the key facts you might find interesting are:

  • The total value of AI being used in education was estimated to reach $53.68 billion by the end of 2032.
  • 68% of students say using AI has impacted their academic performance positively.
  • Educators using AI tools say the technology helps speed up their grading process by as much as 75%.
 

Colin Levy Discusses His New Book The Legal Tech Ecosystem & the Skills Needed to Succeed in Legal Tech — from tlpodcast.com by Chad Main

In the latest episode, legal tech guru and Head of Legal at contract lifecycle management company Malbek, Colin Levy, discusses his journey into legal tech and insights from his new book “The Legal Tech Ecosystem“. His book is a plainly written look into the legal tech field, emphasizing practical tools over AI hype and underscoring the importance of adaptability, risk-taking, and continuous learning in this evolving industry.

Also see:


Virtual Legal Advising: Mastering Business and Property Matters Online — from ventsmagazine.com by Abdus Subhan

Digital transformation has dominated every industry, the legal industry has not been left behind. Virtual law, or providing legal services through online platforms, has emerged as a vital resource for individuals and businesses alike. This article explores the idea of online professional legal advice, focusing on business and property matters. It serves as a thorough guide to navigating legal issues in these domains with the aid of virtual law.


 

 

With an incarcerated parent, pursuing a law degree was the natural choice — from opencampusmedia.org by Charlotte West
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Mick Guile is a first-year law student studying at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law in Baltimore. As an undergraduate at Temple University, she received a scholarship from ScholarCHIPS, a nonprofit organization that supports the children of incarcerated parents. Guile graduated from Temple with a degree in criminal justice in 2023, inspired by growing up with a father who is incarcerated.

Guile, who uses she/they pronouns, explained the complications of navigating a parental relationship in 15-minute phone calls, and how family incarceration impacted their choice of careers. They last saw their dad, who is in prison in Michigan, during senior year of high school.

[Their conversation was lightly edited for length and clarity.]

 

Dr Abigail Rekas, Lawyer & Lecturer at the School of Law, University of Galway

Abigail is a lecturer on two of the Law micro-credentials at University of Galway – Lawyering Technology & Innovation and Law & Analytics. Micro-credentials are short, flexible courses designed to fit around your busy life! They are designed in collaboration with industry to meet specific skills needs and are accredited by leading Irish universities.

Visit: universityofgalway.ie/courses/micro-credentials/


The Implications of Generative AI: From the Delivery of Legal Services to the Delivery of Justice — from iaals.du.edu by

The potential for AI’s impact is broad, as it has the ability to impact every aspect of human life, from home to work. It will impact our relationships to everything and everyone in our world. The implications for generative AI on the legal system, from how we deliver legal services to how we deliver justice, will be just as far reaching.

[N]ow we face the latest technological frontier: artificial intelligence (AI).… Law professors report with both awe and angst that AI apparently can earn Bs on law school assignments and even pass the bar exam. Legal research may soon be unimaginable without it. AI obviously has great potential to dramatically increase access to key information for lawyers and non-lawyers alike. But just as obviously it risks invading privacy interests and dehumanizing the law.

When you can no longer sell the time it takes to achieve a client’s outcome, then you must sell the outcome itself and the client’s experience of getting there. That completely changes the dynamics of what law firms are all about.


Preparing the Next Generation of Tech-Ready Lawyers — from news.gsu.edu
Legal Analytics and Innovation Initiative Gives Students a Competitive Advantage

Georgia State University College of Law faculty understand this need and designed the Legal Analytics & Innovation Initiative (LAII) to equip students with the competitive skills desired by law firms and other companies that align with the emerging technological environment.

“As faculty, we realized we need to be forward-thinking about incorporating technology into our curriculum. Students must understand new areas of law that arise from or are significantly altered by technological advances, like cybersecurity, privacy and AI. They also must understand how these advances change the practice of law,” said Kris Niedringhaus, associate dean for Law Library, Information Services, Legal Technology & Innovation.


The Imperative Of Identifying Use Cases In Legal Tech: A Guiding Light For Innovation In The Age Of AI — from abovethelaw.com by Olga V. Mack
In the quest to integrate AI and legal technology into legal practice, use cases are not just important but indispensable.

As the legal profession continues to navigate the waters of digital transformation, the importance of use cases stands as a beacon guiding the journey. They are the litmus test for the practical value of technology, ensuring that innovations not only dazzle with potential but also deliver tangible benefits. In the quest to integrate AI and legal technology into legal practice, use cases are not just important but indispensable.

The future of legal tech is not about technology for technology’s sake. It’s about thoughtful, purpose-driven innovation that enhances the practice of law, improves client outcomes, and upholds the principles of justice. Use cases are the roadmap for this future, charting a course for technology that is meaningful, impactful, and aligned with the noble pursuit of law.

 

Supreme Court: Bar exam will no longer be required to become attorney in Washington State — from spokesman.com by Emma Epperly

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

The bar exam will no longer be required to become a lawyer in Washington, the state Supreme Court ruled in a pair of orders Friday.

The court approved alternative ways to show competency and earn a law license after appointing a task force to examine the issue in 2020.

The Bar Licensure Task Force found that the traditional exam “disproportionally and unnecessarily blocks” marginalized groups from becoming practicing attorneys and is “at best minimally effective” for ensuring competency, according to a news release from the Washington Administrative Office of the Courts.

 

The 2024 Lawdragon 100 Leading AI & Legal Tech Advisors — from lawdragon.com by Katrina Dewey

These librarians, entrepreneurs, lawyers and technologists built the world where artificial intelligence threatens to upend life and law as we know it – and are now at the forefront of the battles raging within.

To create this first-of-its-kind guide, we cast a wide net with dozens of leaders in this area, took submissions, consulted with some of the most esteemed gurus in legal tech. We also researched the cases most likely to have the biggest impact on AI, unearthing the dozen or so top trial lawyers tapped to lead the battles. Many of them bring copyright or IP backgrounds and more than a few are Bay Area based. Those denoted with an asterisk are members of our Hall of Fame.
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Free Legal Research Startup descrybe.ai Now Has AI Summaries of All State Supreme and Appellate Opinions — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

descrybe.ai, a year-old legal research startup focused on using artificial intelligence to provide free and easy access to court opinions, has completed its goal of creating AI-generated summaries of all available state supreme and appellate court opinions from throughout the United States.

descrybe.ai describes its mission as democratizing access to legal information and leveling the playing field in legal research, particularly for smaller-firm lawyers, journalists, and members of the public.


 

A View into the Generative AI Legal Landscape 2024 — from law.stanford.edu by Megan Ma, Aparna Sinha,  Ankit Tandon, & Jennifer Richards

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Some key observations and highlights:

  1. Emerging technical solutions are addressing the main challenges of using Generative AI in legal applications, such as lack of consistency and accuracy, limited explainability, privacy concerns, and difficulty in obtaining and training models on legal domain data.
  2. Structural impediments in the legal industry, such as the billable hour, lack of standardization, vendor dependence, and incumbent control, moderate the success of generative AI startups.
  3. Our defined “client-facing” LegalTech market is segmented into three broad lines of work: Research and Analysis, Document Review and Drafting, and Litigation. We view the total LegalTech market in the United States to be estimated at ~$13B in 2023, with litigation being the largest category.
  4. LegalTech incumbents play a significant role in the adoption of generative AI technologies, often opting for market consolidation through partnerships or acquisitions rather than building solutions organically.
  5. Future evolution in LegalTech may involve specialization in areas such as patent and IP, immigration, insurance, and regulatory compliance. There is also potential for productivity tools and access to legal services, although the latter faces structural challenges related to the Unauthorized Practice of Law (UPL).

Fresh Voices on Legal Tech with Tessa Manuello — from legaltalknetwork.com by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell

EPISODE NOTES
Creative thinking and design elements can help you elevate your legal practice and develop more meaningful solutions for clients. Dennis and Tom welcome Tessa Manuello to discuss her insights on legal technology with a particular focus on creative design adaptations for lawyers. Tessa discusses the tech learning process for attorneys and explains how a more creative approach for both learning and implementing tech can help lawyers make better use of current tools, AI included.


International Women’s Day: Kriti Sharma Calls for More Women Working in AI, LegalTech — from legalcurrent.com

In honor of International Women’s Day, Sharma discusses on LinkedIn the need for more female role models in the tech sector as AI opens up traditional career pathways and creates opportunities to welcome more women to the space.

Sharma invited Thomson Reuters female leaders working in legal technology to share their perspectives, including Rawia Ashraf, Emily Colbert, and Anu Dodda.


 

Hotshot, the Legal Learning Platform, Releases First Five in Planned Series of AI Training Videos for Lawyers — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

Hotshot, a learning platform for legal professionals, today released the first five courses in a planned series designed to teach lawyers and other legal professionals about artificial intelligence and its impact on law practice.

The overall set of AI videos is designed to teach lawyers about the technology, its use cases for law practice, its risks and ethical considerations, its impact on different practice areas, and more.

 

State of Higher Ed LMS Market for US and Canada: Year-End 2023 Edition — from onedtech.philhillaa.com by Phil Hill

  • The market continues to be a matter of Canvas and Brightspace winning new accounts, Anthology Bb Learn and Moodle losing accounts, with more variety for smaller institutions.
  • Canvas has further consolidated its position as the market leader in North America, with 41% of the market share. Blackboard fell from 18% of the market share to 17%. Moodle has plateaued at 16% while Brightspace increased to 16%. As a reminder, we have removed Open LMS from the Moodle market share.
  • Populi LMS (3%), Open LMS (3%), Sakai (2%), and Schoology (1%) round out the remainder of the market, with 1% of the market going to Other.
  • As always, market share is very much a story of size, type of institution (public or private), and control. The numbers above refer to the market take as a whole, but if we start to drill down to different sizes and types of institution, we get very different market dynamics.

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AI Is Becoming an Integral Part of the Instructional Design Process — from drphilippahardman.substack.com Dr. Philippa Hardman
What I learned from 150 interviews with instructional designers

1. AI already plays a central part in the instructional design process
A whopping 95.3% of the instructional designers interviewed said they use AI in their day to day work. Those who don’t use AI cite access or permission issues as the primary reason that they haven’t integrated AI into their process.

2. AI is predominantly used at the design and development stages of the instructional design process 
When mapped to the ADDIE process, the breakdown of use cases goes as follows:

  • Analysis: 5.5% of use cases
  • Design: 32.1%
  • Development: 53.2%
  • Implementation: 1.8%
  • Evaluation: 7.3%

Speaking of AI in our learning ecosystems, also see:


Will AI Use in Schools Increase Next Year? 56 Percent of Educators Say Yes — from edweek.org by Alyson Klein

The majority of educators expect use of artificial intelligence tools will increase in their school or district over the next year, according to an EdWeek Research Center survey.

Applying Multimodal AI to L&D — from learningguild.com by Sarah Clark
We’re just starting to see Multimodal AI systems hit the spotlight. Unlike the text-based and image-generation AI tools we’ve seen before, multimodal systems can absorb and generate content in multiple formats – text, image, video, audio, etc.

 

 

Building Better Civil Justice Systems Isn’t Just About The Funding — from lawnext.com by Jess Lu and Mark Chandler

Justice tech — legal tech that helps low-income folks with no or some ability to pay, that assists the lawyers who serve those folks, and that makes the courts more efficient and effective — must contend with a higher hurdle than wooing Silicon Valley VCs: the civil justice system itself.

A checkerboard of technology systems and data infrastructures across thousands of local court jurisdictions makes it nearly impossible to develop tools with the scale needed to be sustainable. Courts are themselves a key part of the access to justice problem: opaque, duplicative and confusing court forms and burdensome filing processes make accessing the civil justice system deeply inefficient for the sophisticated, and an impenetrable maze for the 70+% of civil litigants who don’t have a lawyer.


Speaking of legaltech, also see:


“Noxtua,” Europe’s first sovereign legal AI — from eureporter.co

Noxtua, the first sovereign European legal AI with its proprietary Language Model, allows lawyers in corporations and law firms to benefit securely from the advantages of generative AI. The Berlin-based AI startup Xayn and the largest German business law firm CMS are developing Noxtua as a Legal AI with its own Legal Large Language Model and AI assistant. Lawyers from corporations and law firms can use the Noxtua chat to ask questions about legal documents, analyze them, check them for compliance with company guidelines, (re)formulate texts, and have summaries written. The Legal Copilot, which specializes in legal texts, stands out as an independent and secure alternative from Europe to the existing US offerings.


Generative AI in the legal industry: The 3 waves set to change how the business works — from thomsonreuters.com by Tom Shepherd and Stephanie Lomax

Gen AI is game-changing technology, directly impacting the way legal work is done and the current law firm-client business model; and while much remains unsettled, within 10 years, Gen AI is likely to change corporate legal departments and law firms in profound and unique ways

Generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) isn’t a futuristic technology — it’s here now, and it’s already impacting the legal industry in many ways.


Hmmmm….on this next one…

New legal AI venture promises to show how judges think — from reuters.com by Sara Merken

Feb 29 (Reuters) – A new venture by a legal technology entrepreneur and a former Kirkland & Ellis partner says it can use artificial intelligence to help lawyers understand how individual judges think, allowing them to tailor their arguments and improve their courtroom results.

The Toronto-based legal research startup, Bench IQ, was founded by Jimoh Ovbiagele, the co-founder of now-shuttered legal research company ROSS Intelligence, alongside former ROSS senior software engineer Maxim Isakov and former Kirkland bankruptcy partner Jeffrey Gettleman.


 

Online Teaching Is Improving In-Person Instruction on Campus — from edsurge.com by Robert Ubell (Columnist)

In fact a slew of research over the past two decades has found that teaching online makes professors better teachers in their classrooms, so much so that one 2009 study recommended that “faculty should be trained in distance education methods and technologies and should be encouraged to use those methods back in the classroom.”

It’s a message I’ve been arguing for a while. But now that so many educators and students have had direct experience with online formats, it’s a narrative that seems to be sinking in.

Now is the time to fully embrace how physical classrooms can be improved by online techniques.

When professors teaching face-to-face adopt online pedagogy, the classroom is transformed into a “blended” experience, moving from conventional to active learning. And that helps students turn from passive to engaged participants in their own intellectual excursions.

 

From DSC:
This first item is related to the legal field being able to deal with today’s issues:

The Best Online Law School Programs (2024) — from abovethelaw.com by Staci Zaretsky
A tasty little rankings treat before the full Princeton Review best law schools ranking is released.

Several law schools now offer online JD programs that have become as rigorous as their on-campus counterparts. For many JD candidates, an online law degree might even be the smarter choice. Online programs offer flexibility, affordability, access to innovative technologies, students from a diversity of career backgrounds, and global opportunities.

Voila! Feast your eyes upon the Best Online JD Programs at Law School for 2024 (in alphabetical order):

  • Mitchell Hamline School of Law – Hybrid J.D.
  • Monterey College of Law – Hybrid Online J.D.
  • Purdue Global Law School – Online J.D.
  • Southwestern Law School – Online J.D.
  • Syracuse University – J.D. Interactive
  • University of Dayton School of Law – Online Hybrid J.D.
  • University of New Hampshire – Hybrid J.D.

DSC: FINALLY!!! Online learning hits law schools (at least in a limited fashion)!!! Maybe there’s hope yet for the American Bar Association and for America’s legal system to be able to deal with the emerging technologies — and the issues presented therein — in the 21st century!!! Because if we can’t even get caught up to where numerous institutions of higher education were back at the turn of this century, we don’t have as much hope in the legal field being able to address things like AI, XR, cryptocurrency, blockchain, and more.


Meet KL3M: the first Legal Large Language Model. — from 273ventures.com
KL3M is the first model family trained from scratch on clean, legally-permissible data for enterprise use.


Advocate, advise, and accompany — from jordanfurlong.substack.com by Jordan Furlong
These are the three essential roles lawyers will play in the post-AI era. We need to start preparing legal education, lawyer licensing, and law practices to adapt.

Consider this scenario:

Ten years from now, Generative AI has proven capable of a stunning range of legal activities. Not only can it accurately write legal documents and conduct legal research and apply law to facts, it can reliably oversee legal document production, handle contract negotiations, monitor regulatory compliance, render legal opinions, and much more. Lawyers are no longer needed to carry out these previously billable tasks or even to double-check the AI’s performance. Tasks that once occupied 80% of lawyers’ billable time have been automated.

What are the chances this scenario unfolds within the next ten years? You can decide that likelihood for yourself, but I think anything above 1% represents the potential for major disruption to the legal profession.

Also from Jordan, see:


Top 5 Strategies to Excel in the 2024 Legal Sector with Colin Levy — from discrepancyai.com by Lisen Kaci

We have gathered, from Colin Levy’s insights, the top five strategies that legal professionals can implement to excel in this transformational era – bringing them together with technology.


Legal Tech’s Predictions for AI, Workflow Automation, and Data Analytics in 2024 — from jdsupra.com by Mitratech Holdings, Inc.

They need information like:

  • Why did we go over budget?
  • Why did we go to trial?
  • How many invoices sat with each attorney?

Going further than just legal spend, analytics on volume of work and diversity metrics can help legal teams make the business case they need to drive important initiatives and decisions forward. And a key differentiator of top-performing companies is the ability to get all of this data in one place, which is why Mitratech was thrilled to unveil PlatoBI, an embedded analytics platform powered by Snowflake, earlier this year with several exciting AI and Analytic enhancements.


DOJ appoints first-ever chief AI officer – Will law firms follow? — from legaltechnology.com by Emma Griffiths


AI’s promise and problem for law and learning — from reuters.com by John Bandler

Also worrisome is that AI will be used as a crutch that short circuits learning. Some people look for shortcuts. What effect of AI on that learning process and the result, for students and when lawyers use AI to draft documents and research?


 

AI-related tools and tips dominate ’60 in 60′ Techshow session — from abajournal.com by Danielle Braff

Four days of seminars, lectures and demonstrations at the 39th annual ABA Techshow boiled down to Saturday morning’s grand finale, where panelists rounded up their favorite tech tips and apps. The underlying theme: artificial intelligence.

“It’s an amazing tool, but it’s kind of scary, so watch out,” said Cynthia Thomas, the Techshow co-chair, and owner of PLMC & Associates, talking about the new tool from OpenAI, Sora, which takes text and turns it into video.

Other panelists during the traditional Techshow closer, “60 sites, 60 tips and gadgets and gizmos,” highlighted a wide of AI-enabled or augmented tools to help users perform a large range of tasks, including quickly sift through user reviews for products, generate content, or keep up-to-date on the latest AI tools. For those looking for a non-AI tips and tools, they also suggested several devices, websites, tips and apps that have helped them with their practice and with life in general.


ABA Techshow 2024: Ethics in the Age of Legal Technology — from bnnbreaking.com by Rafia Tasleem

ABA Techshow 2024 stressed the importance of ethics in legal technology adoption. Ethics lawyer Stuart I. Teicher warned of the potential data breaches and urged attorneys to be proactive in understanding and supervising new tools. Education and oversight are key to maintaining data protection and integrity.


Startup Alley Competition Proves It Continues To Be All About AI — from abovethelaw.com by Joe Patrice

Though it might be more accurate to call TECHSHOW an industry showcase because with each passing year it seems that more and more of the show involves other tech companies looking to scoop up enterprising new companies. A tone that’s set by the conference’s opening event: the annual Startup Alley pitch competition.

This year, 15 companies presented. If you were taking a shot every time someone mentioned “AI” then my condolences because you are now dead. If you included “machine learning” or “large language model” then you’ve died, come back as a zombie, and been killed again.


Here Are the Winners of ABA Techshow’s 8th Annual Startup Alley Pitch Competition — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

Here were the companies that won the top three spots:

  1. AltFee, a product that helps law firms replace the billable hour with fixed-fee pricing.
  2. Skribe.ai, an alternative to traditional court reporting that promises “a better way to take testimony.”
  3. Paxton AI, an AI legal assistant.

Class action firms ask US federal courts to encourage virtual testimony — from reuters.com by Nate Raymond

Summary:

  • Lawyers at Hagens Berman are leading charge to change rules
  • Proposal asks judiciary to ‘effectuate a long overdue modernization’ of rules

 

From DSC:
This would be huge for all of our learning ecosystems, as the learning agents could remember where a particular student or employee is at in terms of their learning curve for a particular topic.


Say What? Chat With RTX Brings Custom Chatbot to NVIDIA RTX AI PCs — from blogs.nvidia.com
Tech demo gives anyone with an RTX GPU the power of a personalized GPT chatbot.



 
© 2024 | Daniel Christian