The Rumors Were True: Thomson Reuters Acquires Casetext for $650M Cash — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

Thomson Reuters Acquires Casetext for $650M Cash

Excerpt:

“The proposed transaction will complement Thomson Reuters existing AI roadmap and builds on its recent initiatives, including a commitment to invest more than $100 million annually on AI capabilities, the development of new generative AI experiences across its product suite, as well as a new plugin with Microsoft and Microsoft 365 Copilot for legal professionals,” TR’s announcement said.

From DSC:
I post this to show how AI continues to make inroads into the legal realm — and how serious vendors are about it. I believe AI-enabled applications will eventually increase access to justice for the citizens of the United States of America.


Below is an addendum on 6/28/23 that further illustrates how serious vendors are about AI:

Databricks picks up MosaicML, an OpenAI competitor, for $1.3B — from techcrunch.com by Ingrid Lunden

Excerpt:

Databricks announced it will pay $1.3 billion to acquire MosaicML, an open source startup with neural networks expertise that has built a platform for organizations to train large language models and deploy generative AI tools based on them.

 

AI-driven Legal Apprenticeships — from thebrainyacts.beehiiv.com by Josh Kubicki

Excerpts:

My hypothesis and research suggest that as bar associations and the ABA begin to recognize the on-going systemic issues of high-cost legal education, growing legal deserts (where no lawyer serves a given population), on-going and pervasive access to justice issues, and a public that is already weary of the legal system – alternative options that are already in play might become more supported.

What might that look like?

The combination of AI-assisted education with traditional legal apprenticeships has the potential to create a rich, flexible, and engaging learning environment. Here are three scenarios that might illustrate what such a combination could look like:

    • Scenario One – Personalized Curriculum Development
    • Scenario Two – On-Demand Tutoring and Mentoring
    • Scenario Three – AI-assisted Peer Networks and Collaborative Learning:

Why Companies Are Vastly Underprepared For The Risks Posed By AI — from forbes.com by
Accuracy, bias, security, culture, and trust are some of the risks involved

Excerpt:

We know that there are challenges – a threat to human jobs, the potential implications for cyber security and data theft, or perhaps even an existential threat to humanity as a whole. But we certainly don’t yet have a full understanding of all of the implications. In fact, a World Economic Forum report recently stated that organizations “may currently underappreciate AI-related risks,” with just four percent of leaders considering the risk level to be “significant.”

A survey carried out by analysts Baker McKenzie concluded that many C-level leaders are over-confident in their assessments of organizational preparedness in relation to AI. In particular, it exposed concerns about the potential implications of biased data when used to make HR decisions.


AI & lawyer training: How law firms can embrace hybrid learning & development — thomsonreuters.com
A big part of law firms’ successful adaptation to the increased use of ChatGPT and other forms of generative AI, may depend upon how firmly they embrace online learning & development tools designed for hybrid work environments

Excerpt:

As law firms move forward in using of advanced artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT and other forms of generative AI, their success may hinge upon how they approach lawyer training and development and what tools they enlist for the process.

One of the tools that some law firms use to deliver a new, multi-modal learning environment is an online, video-based learning platform, Hotshot, that delivers more than 250 on-demand courses on corporate, litigation, and business skills.

Ian Nelson, co-founder of Hotshot, says he has seen a dramatic change in how law firms are approaching learning & development (L&D) in the decade or so that Hotshot has been active. He believes the biggest change is that 10 years ago, firms hadn’t yet embraced the need to focus on training and development.

From DSC:
Heads up law schools. Are you seeing/hearing this!?

  • Are we moving more towards a lifelong learning model within law schools?
  • If not, shouldn’t we be doing that?
  • Are LLM programs expanding quickly enough? Is more needed?

Legal tech and innovation: 3 ways AI supports the evolution of legal ops — from lexology.com

Excerpts:

  1. Simplified legal spend analysis
  2. Faster contract review
  3. Streamlined document management

AI’s Potential for Access to Justice -- a podcast from the Legal Talk Network

 

IAALS Releases National Framework for States to Create New Tier of Legal Professionals Who Can Offer More Affordable Legal Help — from iaals.du.edu by Kelsey Montague

Excerpt:

IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver, announced today the release of its new report, Allied Legal Professionals: A National Framework for Program Growth. As part of IAALS’ Allied Legal Professionals project—which is generously supported by the Sturm Family Foundation—this report includes multiple research-informed recommendations to help standardize a new tier of legal professionals across states, with the goal of increasing the options for accessible and affordable legal help for the public.

“To hire a lawyer, people either need considerable money or have an income low enough to qualify for the limited legal aid available. The problem is that the majority of people in the middle class don’t fit into either of those categories, making access to legal services incredibly difficult,” says IAALS Director of Special Projects Michael Houlberg. “Even if every lawyer took on pro bono clients, it wouldn’t come close to addressing the need. And IAALS’ research shows that people who need legal help are open to receiving it from qualified and authorized providers who are not lawyers.”

 


From DSC:
I put the following comment on Dan’s posting:

I couldn’t agree more Dan. Millions of people could benefit from the considered, careful research of — and eventual application of — technologies to significantly improve/impact access to justice (#A2J).


Also see:

Generative AI could radically alter the practice of law — from The Economist
Even if it doesn’t replace lawyers en masse

Excerpts:

According to a recent report from Goldman Sachs, a bank, 44% of legal tasks could be performed by AI, more than in any occupation surveyed except for clerical and administrative support. Lawyers spend an awful lot of time scrutinising tedious documents—the sort of thing that AI has already demonstrated it can do well. Lawyers use AI for a variety of tasks, including due diligence, research and data analytics. These applications have largely relied on “extractive” AI, which, as the name suggests, extracts information from a text, answering specific questions about its contents.

Ultimately this will be good news for clients. “People who go to lawyers don’t want lawyers: they want resolutions to their problems or the avoidance of problems altogether,” explains Mr Susskind. If AI can provide those outcomes then people will use AI. Many people already use software to do their taxes rather than rely on professionals; “Very few of them are complaining about the lack of social interaction with their tax advisers.”


Also see:


 

The perils of consulting an Electric Monk — from jordanfurlong.substack.com by Jordan Furlong
Don’t blame ChatGPT for the infamous incident of the made-up cases. And don’t be too hard on the lawyer, either. We’re all susceptible to a machine that tells us exactly what we want to hear.

Excerpt:

But then the “ChatGPT Lawyer” story happened, and all hell broke loose on LawTwitter and LawLinkedIn, and I felt I needed to make three points, one of which involves an extra-terrestrial robot.

My first two points are pretty straightforward:

  1. The tsunami of gleeful overreaction from lawyers on social media, urging bans on the use of ChatGPT and predicting prison time for the hapless practitioner, speaks not only to their fear and loathing of generative AI, but also to their desperate hope that it’s all really nothing but hype and won’t disturb their happy status quo. Good luck with that.
  2. The condemnation and mockery of the lawyer himself, who made a bad mistake but who’s been buried by an utterly disproportionate avalanche of derision, speaks to the lack of compassion in this profession, whose members should pray that their worst day as a lawyer never makes it to the front page of The New York Times. There but for the grace of God.

Are you looking for evidence to support the side that’s hired you? Or are you looking for the truth? Choosing the first option has never been easier. It’s also never been more dangerous.


As referenced topic-wise by Jordan above, also see:

A lawyer used ChatGPT to prepare a court filing. It went horribly awry. — from cbsnews.com by Megan Cerullo


What I learned at CLOC 2023 — from alexofftherecord.com by Alex Su
This week I attended the premier legal operations conference. Here’s what I heard.

Excerpt:

Theme 1: Generative AI isn’t going anywhere
This was a huge theme throughout the conference. Whether it was vendors announcing GPT integrations, or panels discussing how to use AI, there was just an enormous amount of attention on generative AI. I’m certainly no stranger to all this hype, but I’d always wondered if it was all from my Silicon Valley bubble. It wasn’t.

What was driving all this interest in AI? Well, the ubiquity of ChatGPT. Everyone’s talking about it and trying to figure out how to incorporate it into the business. And not just in the U.S. It’s a worldwide trend. Word on the street is that it’s a CEO-level priority. Everywhere. So naturally it trickles down to the legal department.


We need to talk about ChatGPT — from mnbar.org by Damien Riehl

Excerpt:

How well do LLMs perform on legal tasks? 

Personal experience and anecdotal evidence indicate that LLMs’ current state provides impressive output in various legal tasks. Specifically, they provide extraordinary results on the following:

  • Drafting counterarguments.
  • Exploring client fact inquiries (e.g., “How did you lose money?”).
  • Ideating voir dire questions (and rating responses).
  • Summarizing statutes.
  • Calculating works’ copyright expiration.
  • Drafting privacy playbooks.
  • Drafting motions to dismiss.
  • Responding to cease-and-desist letters.
  • Crafting decision trees.
  • Creating chronologies.
  • Drafting contracts.
  • Extracting key elements from depositions.

 

 

082 | Generating Voices — from thebrainyacts.beehiiv.com

Excerpts:

Conventional Use Cases

  1. Audio Document Reading:
  2. Accessibility:
  3. Training Materials:
  4. Document Proofing:
  5. Transcriptions:
  6. Blog to Podcast:

Unconventional Use Cases

  1. Voice Cloning for Client Interaction:
  2. Multilingual Services:
  3. AI-based Legal Information Hotline:
  4. Real-Time Courtroom Assistance:
  5. Engaging Jurors:
  6. Storytelling for Case Understanding:
 

Corporate legal departments see use cases for generative AI & ChatGPT, new report finds — from thomsonreuters.com


New legal tech tools showcased at CLOC 2023 — from legaldive.comRobert Freedman
Innovations include a better way to evaluate law firm proposals, centralize all in-house legal requests in a single intake function and analyze agreements.

Guest post: CLOC 2023 – Key insights into how to drive value during changing economic times — from legaltechnology.com by Valerie Chan

Excerpt:

Typically, Legalweek has always been focused on eDiscovery, while CLOC was focused on matter management and contracts management. This time I noticed more balance in the vendor hall and sessions, with a broader range of services providers than before, including staffing providers, contracts management vendors and other new entrants in addition to eDiscovery vendors.

One theme dominated the show floor conversations: Over and over, the legal operators I talked with said if their technologies and vendors were able to develop better workflows, achieve more cost savings and report on the metrics that mattered to their GC, the GC could function as more of a business advisor to the C-suite.


AI is already being used in the legal system—we need to pay more attention to how we use it — by phys.org Morgiane Noel

Excerpt:

While ChatGPT and the use of algorithms in social media get lots of attention, an important area where AI promises to have an impact is law.

The idea of AI deciding guilt in legal proceedings may seem far-fetched, but it’s one we now need to give serious consideration to.

That’s because it raises questions about the compatibility of AI with conducting fair trials. The EU has enacted legislation designed to govern how AI can and can’t be used in criminal law.


Legal Innovation as a Service, Now Enhanced with AI — from denniskennedy.com by Dennis Kennedy

Excerpt:

Over the last semester, I’ve been teaching two classes at Michigan State University College of Law, one called AI and the Law and the other called New Technologies and the Law, and a class at University of Michigan Law School called Legal Technology Literacy and Leadership. All three classes pushed me to keep up-to-date with the nearly-daily developments in AI, ChatGPT, and LLMs. I also did quite a lot of experiments, primarily with ChatGPT, especially GPT-4, and with Notion AI.


Emerging Tech Trends: The rise of GPT tools in contract analysis — from abajournal.com by Nicole Black

Excerpt:

Below, you’ll learn about many of the solutions currently available. Keep in mind that this overview is not exhaustive. There are other similar tools currently available and the number of products in this category will undoubtedly increase in the months to come.


Politicians need to learn how AI works—fast — link.wired.com

Excerpt:

This week we’ll hear from someone who has deep experience in assessing and regulating potentially harmful uses of automation and artificial intelligence—valuable skills at a moment when many people, including lawmakers, are freaking out about the chaos that the technology could cause.


 

 

‘It’s a New Era for Legal Tech’ – Generative AI + The Law — from artificiallawyer.com by Artificial Lawyer (UK)  and Dan Katz

Law professor and legal AI expert, Dan Katz, talks to Artificial Lawyer about generative AI and the legal sector.

A New Dawn of Legal Technology — from globalbankingandfinance.com
Is the legal function finally ready to embrace legal tech and unlock tangible business value?

Excerpt:

In the mid-1980s, a bright red computer terminal that provided lawyers with online access to case law was an iconic status symbol. The UBIQ terminal hooked lawyers up to the Lexis service, at the time one of the first legal technology systems, using full-text search capabilities to provide rapid access to information.

It is extraordinary to consider what the legal industry could have achieved if the early adoption of legal tech had not stalled. Sadly, rather than being innovative and embracing the potential of digital records, the industry has underinvested in both legal technology and good data management for the past three decades. Generation after generation of lawyers have failed to take advantage of the power of legal tech to improve client services, reduce risk and enhance efficiency.

Also relevant/see:

 

VR system to be used to prepare crime victims for court — from inavateonthenet.net

Excerpt:

An innovative VR system is being used to help victims of crime prepare for giving evidence in court, allowing victims to engage with key members of the judicial process virtually.

The system, designed by Immersonal, is to be rolled out across 52 Scottish courts over the next year, with the technology also being piloted in the Hague as part of the International Criminal Court. The aim is to dissuade the fears and discomfort of victims and witnesses who may be unfamiliar with the court process.
.

VR system to be used to prepare crime victims for court

.


.

Here’s another interesting item for you…one that also may eventually be XR-related:
.

 

Send in another victim of industrial disease — from jordanfurlong.substack.com
The legal profession is drowning in psychological and emotional distress. One change, right now, could help save the next generation of lawyers from the flood.

Excerpt:

But don’t make the mistake of thinking this is a problem just at Paul Hastings or in the AmLaw 100. It’s everywhere. Mental distress and emotional anguish are endemic throughout the legal profession, driven by pathologies inextricably intertwined with our malignant cultural impulses and exploitative business models. And it’s getting much worse, very fast.

Take a deep breath, and then work your way through this list of findings from seven separate reports into the legal profession’s state of mental and emotional sickness:

  • Massachusetts: 77% of lawyers reported burnout from their work; almost half thought about leaving their job. 40% considered leaving the profession entirely due to stress. 7% experienced suicide ideation in the weeks before the survey.
  • California and DC: Lawyers were twice as likely as the general population to experience thoughts of suicide, and those with high stress were 22 times more likely to have such thoughts.
  • Midsized law firms: Nearly 3/4 of lawyers, paralegals and administrative professionals at midsized law firms report feeling stress, burnout, or being overwhelmed in the past year.
  • Canada: 59% of legal professionals report psychological distress. 56% report burnout. 24% say they’ve experienced suicidal thoughts at least once since starting practice.
  • UK: 62% of lawyers have experienced burnout as a result of their work in the last year. 57% put “an unmanageable caseload” at the top of their list of stressors at work, followed by a lack of work/life balance (42%).
  • In-house counsel: Legal department lawyers face burnout and attrition internally, and supply chain issues and high inflation externally. “The environment legal departments are operating in now is an extremely challenging one.”
  • Law students: Over 75% reported increased anxiety because of law school-related issues; over 50% reported experiencing depression. A majority reported experiencing anxiety (77%), disrupted sleep (71%), and depression (51%).

Every one of the percentages laid out above is higher for new lawyers, higher for women, higher for visible minorities, and higher for members of the LGBTQ+ community. And all but one of these reports were released just in the first two months of 2023.


From DSC:
One of the enormous surprises that I learned about while working at a law school (from 2018-2021) is the state of mental health within the legal industry. It’s not good. Beware!

Students in college — or to anyone who is thinking about entering law school and then practicing some area of law — get educated on things. Talk to lawyers of all kinds — especially in the area(s) that you are thinking of going into.

Then go forward into your decision with your eyes wide open. Know that you will need to put up some serious boundaries; if you don’t do that, you too may suffer the consequences that many lawyers have had to deal with.

I caught up with an old college friend of mine a year or so ago. He was absolutely exhausted. He was emotionally at the end of his rope. He was the owner of his own law firm and was working non-stop. He didn’t want to disappoint his clients, so he kept saying yes to things…to almost everything in fact. He later got out of owning his own firm — thank God — and went to work for an insurance company.

Furlong: Law school curricula and bar admission programs in every jurisdiction should be upgraded, starting today, to include significant instruction to aspiring lawyers about the deadly serious threats to their lives and health posed by choosing a legal career.

I just want to pass this along because I don’t think many younger students realize the state of mental health and stress within the legal field. And while you’re reflecting on that, you should also pulse-check how AI is impacting the legal field. Along these lines — and also from Jordan Furlong — see:

 

Fresh Voices on Legal Tech – New Podcast Interview Series — from legaltechmonitor.com by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell

Here are the episodes so far:

  • Fresh Voices on Legal Tech with Kristen Sonday – Kristen talks about her platform at Paladin connecting lawyers to pro bono work; weighs in on ChatGPT, AI, tech adoption, and more; and shares her top tip for using technology in legal practice.
  • Fresh Voices on Legal Tech with Chase Hertel – Chase discusses his career path and offers tips for helping attorneys engage with technology to improve their practice. They dig into the potential uses and dangers of ChatGPT and other AI tech in the profession, discuss Chase’s work in immigration legal tech, and survey the outlook of legal tech’s future.
  • Fresh Voices on Legal Tech with Natalie Knowlton – Natalie discusses the current state of legal services, the justice gap, and ways technology is helping attorneys provide better and more affordable services to consumers.
 



Going to court without a lawyer? DIY law is on the rise — from cbc.ca by Yvette Brend
Self-representation saves money, but the larger cost is high, say justice-access advocates

Excerpt:

Most reported feeling the justice system was “unfair,” and many described a sense of “the odds being stacked against them.”

Advocates say the rising number of lawyer-free litigants is problematic. The legal system is meant to be adversarial — with strong lawyers on each side — but the high rate of self-representation creates lopsided justice, pitting an untrained individual against a professional.

‘Legal Tech Lists’: 3 Things Your CRM Should Do For You — from abovethelaw.com by Cady Darago
How you can go beyond merely storing information.

Exploring the Hottest Legal Tech Startups in Europe — from legalreader.com by Amy Hollow
Europe is quickly becoming a hub for legal tech startups, offering innovative solutions to the legal industry.

Excerpt:
Europe is home to some of the most innovative legal tech startups in the world. Here are five of the hottest ones:

    1. Legatics
    2. Juro
    3. LawGeex
    4. The Lawyer Guide
    5. CaseCrunch

Keep Up With Today’s Legal Tech (Or Be Left Behind) — from legaltalknetwork.com by Joy Murao and Tony Sipp

In this podcast:

  • High tech tools aren’t just for big trials anymore. Learn to incorporate the latest tech for depositions and even smaller hearings and trials.
  • Keep track of every detail and hold every bit of data at your fingertips.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic opened doors and highlighted technologies that support paralegals and legal teams in the courtroom and online.

Legal Operations and Generative AI: Preparing for a Sea Change — from jdsupra.com

Excerpt:

AI will likely make lawyer’s jobs easier (or, at least, more interesting) for some tasks, however the effects it may have on the legal profession could be the real legacy of the technology. Schafer pointed to its potential to improve access to justice for people who want legal representation but can’t get it for whatever reason.


 

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

EPISODE NOTES

Technology has become the main driver for increasing access to justice, and there are huge opportunities for legal service providers to leverage both existing and emerging tech to reach new clients. Dennis and Tom welcome Natalie Knowlton to discuss the current state of legal services, the justice gap, and ways technology is helping attorneys provide better and more affordable services to consumers. As always, stay tuned for the parting shots, that one tip, website, or observation that you can use the second the podcast ends.

New report on ChatGPT & generative AI in law firms shows opportunities abound, even as concerns persist — from thomsonreuters.com; via Brainyacts #43

Excerpt:

The survey, conducted in late-March by the Thomson Reuters Institute, gathered insight from more than 440 respondent lawyers at large and midsize law firms in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. The survey forms the basis of a new report, ChatGPT & Generative AI within Law Firms, which takes a deep look at the evolving attitudes towards generative AI and ChatGPT within law firms, measuring awareness and adoption of the technology as well as lawyers’ views on its potential risks.

The report also reveals several key findings that deserve special attention from law firm leaders and other legal professionals as ChatGPT and generative AI evolve from concept to reality for the vast majority of the legal industry participants. These findings include:

    • Attitudes are evolving around this technology
    • Firms are taking a cautiously proactive approach
    • There’s a growing awareness of the risks

‘Legal Tech Lists’: 5 Lawyer Tropes That Were Upended By Legal Tech — from abovethelaw.com by Jared Correia
These common fictitious scenarios would be solved by technology.

Excerpt:

There are lots of tropes related to lawyers and law firms that frequently show up in works of fiction.  The thing is, those tropes are tropes because they’re sort of old; they’ve been around for a long time. Now, however, modern technology can solve a heck of a lot of those issues. So, for this edition of the “Reference Manual of Lists,” we’re going to relay a trope, offer an example, and talk about how legal tech actually fixes the problem today.

The Future of Generative Large Language Models and Potential Applications in LegalTech — from jdsupra.com by Johannes Scholtes and Geoffrey Vance

Excerpt:

If you made it this far, you should by now understand that ChatGPT is not by itself a search engine, nor an eDiscovery data reviewer, a translator, knowledge base, or tool for legal analytics. But it can contribute to these functionalities.

In-person vs. virtual ADR — How to choose? — from reuters.com by Eric Larson

Excerpt:

April 20, 2023 – Alternative dispute resolution (ADR), a common technique parties can use to settle disputes with the help of a third party, offers several unique benefits over traditional litigation. It is typically more cost-effective, confidential and generally a preferred method to resolving disputes. As a result, counsel and their clients often view ADR as a no-brainer. But the once simple decision to engage in ADR is now complicated by whether to proceed in-person, virtually or with a hybrid approach.

ChatGPT: A Lawyer’s Friend or Ethical Time Bomb? A Look at Professional Responsibility in the Age of AI — from jdsupra.com by Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates, & Woodyard

Excerpt:

The emergence of ChatGPT comes with tremendous promise of increased automation and efficiency. But at what cost? In this blog post, we’ll explore the potential ethical time bomb of using ChatGPT and examine the responsibility of lawyers in the age of AI.

 

 

The Good and the Bad of Solo Practice, Per Clio’s Latest Legal Trends Report for Solos — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

Excerpt:

As a solo myself, I can tell you that there is much to be said for practicing on your own – freedom and independence not least among them. In fact, during 2022’s “Great Resignation,” a third of lawyers who quit their jobs did so to start their own solo practices, according to Legal Trends for Solo Law Firms, a report published today by law practice management company Clio.

But there are also disadvantages to practicing alone and challenges unique to solo lawyers, as this latest report documents.

 


law-school-ai.vercel.app -- Your Personalized AI Chatbot for No-Nonsense Law Learning.


From DSC:
I haven’t used this app or their website (which seems to have a lot of broken links!). But my question/reflection is…is this a piece of legal education’s future? Or even larger than that? I can easily see a LegalGPT type of service out there for ***society at large.***


 
© 2024 | Daniel Christian