legal technologies

“AI will be a vital tool in overcoming the access to justice challenge.” [Susskind] + other legaltech-related items

On 07/09/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Access to Justice (A2J), Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, change, law schools, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, tools, UK, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Rethinking Legal Ops Skills: Generalists Versus Specialists — from abovethelaw.com by Silvie Tucker and Brandi Pack
This ongoing conversation highlights the changing demands on legal ops practitioners.

A thought-provoking discussion is unfolding in the legal operations community regarding one intriguing question: Should legal operations professionals strive to be generalists or specialists?

The conversation is timely as the marketplace consolidates and companies grapple with the best way to fill valuable and limited headcount allotments. It also highlights the evolving landscape of legal operations and the changing demands on its practitioners.
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The Evolution of Legal Ops
Over the past decade, the field of legal operations has undergone significant transformation. Initially strictly focused on streamlining processes and reducing costs, the role has expanded to include various responsibilities driven by technological advancements and heightened industry expectations. Key areas of expansion include:

He added: “I have for long been of the view – for decades – that AI will be a vital tool in overcoming the access to justice challenge. Existing and emerging technologies are now very promising.”

Richard Susskind

In A First for Law Practice Management Platforms, Clio Rolls Out An Integrated E-Filing Service in Texas — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

Last October, during its annual Clio Cloud Conference, the law practice management company Clio announced its plan to roll out an e-filing service, called Clio File, during 2024, starting with Texas, which would make it the first law practice management platform with built-in e-filing. Today, it delivered on that promise, launching Clio File for e-filing in Texas courts.

“Lawyers can now seamlessly submit court documents directly from our flagship practice management product, Clio Manage, streamlining their workflows and simplifying the filing process,” said Chris Stock, vice president of legal content and migrations at Clio. “This is an exciting step in expanding the capabilities of our platform, providing a comprehensive solution for legal documents, from drafting to court filing.”

Just-Launched Quench Uses Gen AI to Bring Greater Speed and Accuracy to Medico-Legal Records Review — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

A cardiologist with a background in medical technology, computer science and artificial intelligence has launched a product for legal professionals and physician expert witnesses that targets the tedious task of reviewing and analyzing thousands of pages of medical records.

The product, Quench SmartChart, uses generative AI to streamline the medico-legal review process, enabling users to quickly extract, summarize and create chronologies from large, disorganized PDFs of medical records.

The product also includes a natural language chat feature, AskQuench, that lets users interact with and interrogate records to surface essential insights.

Emerging Trends in Legal Tech [Joyner & Correia]

On 07/08/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, United States, vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, by Daniel Christian

Emerging Trends in Legal Tech — from legaltalknetwork.com by Rob Joyner & Jared D. Correia

Remote Work Continues to Thrive
In recent years, many firms have adopted a “just make it happen” attitude toward virtual meetings, mobility, and remote work. This has enabled law firms to reevaluate the tools and training necessary for legal professionals to utilize technology effectively, improving upon the traditional in-office setup. When executed correctly, this approach can yield long-lasting benefits for the firm. Implementing a remote work policy can help firms access a global talent pool, reduce operational costs, and create a better work-life balance for their staff.

In a recent episode of Legal Toolkit, Rob Joyner, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Centerbase, and Jared D. Correia, Esq., CEO of Red Cave Law Firm Consulting, discuss the debate between remote and in-office work, as well as the latest advancements in AI and other essential legal technology.

Wow! Great to hear that >1/2 of law schools now offer classes on AI; + other legaltech-related items

On 06/23/2024, in Access to Justice (A2J), Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, emerging technologies, future, innovation, law schools, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, technologies for your home, tools, United States, by Daniel Christian

DC: This great to hear!!!

“…according to a new ABA survey, more than half of law schools now offer classes on AI, and ASU Law is launching a special degree program focused on AI.”#AI #legaltech #ABA #legal #lawyers #lawfirm #emergingtechnologies https://t.co/4qANuhIBmV

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) June 23, 2024

Is Gen AI Creating A Divide Among Law Firms Of Haves and Have Nots? — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

It further seems to me that there is increasingly a divide in the use of generative AI between larger firms and smaller firms. Some will jump on me for saying that, because there are clearly smaller firms that are leading the pack in their development and use of generative AI. (I’m looking at you, Siskind Susser.) By the same token, there are larger firms that have locked their doors to generative AI.

But of the firms that are most openly incorporating generative AI into their workflows, they seem mostly to be larger firms. There is good reason for this. Larger firms have innovation officers and KM professionals and others on staff who are leading the charge on generative AI. Thanks to them, those firms are better equipped to survey the AI landscape and test products under controlled and secure conditions.

On LawNext: Cofounder Jason Tashea on the First Year and Uncertain Future of Georgetown’s First-of-Its-Kind Judicial Innovation Fellowship — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

Eighteen months ago, the first-of-its-kind Judicial Innovation Fellowship launched with the mission of embedding experienced technologists and designers within state, local, and tribal courts to develop technology-based solutions to improve the public’s access to justice. Housed within the Institute for Technology Law & Policy at Georgetown University Law Center, the program was designed to be a catalyst for innovation to enable courts to better serve the legal needs of the public.

Addendum on 6/24/24:

Legal AI Careers Prospects and Opportunities: Navigating the Future of Law — from lawfuel.com

The advances with generative AI tools open new career opportunities for lawyers, from legal tech consultants to junior lawyers supervising AI systems.
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Institutions like Harvard Law School and Yale Law School are introducing courses that focus on AI’s implications in the legal field and such career oppotunities continue to arise.
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Pursuing a career in Legal AI requires a unique blend of legal knowledge and technical skills. There are various educational pathways can equip aspiring professionals with these competencies.

Using OpenAI to cut costs of court battles + reducing drafting times in 1/2 in the UK

On 06/17/2024, in Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, productivity / tips and tricks, trends, UK, United States, by Daniel Christian

Brazil hires OpenAI to cut costs of court battles — from reuters.com by Marcela Ayres and Bernardo Caram

BRASILIA, June 10 (Reuters) – Brazil’s government is hiring OpenAI to expedite the screening and analysis of thousands of lawsuits using artificial intelligence (AI), trying to avoid costly court losses that have weighed on the federal budget.

The AI service will flag to government the need to act on lawsuits before final decisions, mapping trends and potential action areas for the solicitor general’s office (AGU).

Gen AI Cut Lawyers’ Drafting Time in Half, UK’s Ashurst Says — from news.bloomberglaw.com by Isabel Gottlieb

The firm’s findings included:

Using generative AI tools, lawyers saved 45% of the time they said it would otherwise have taken them to write a first draft of a legal brief—about 2.5 hours saved per briefing draft, the firm said in a release. They also saved 80% of the time it would have taken them to draft UK corporate filings “requiring review and extraction of information from articles of association”; and 59% of the time it would have taken them to draft reports about industries and sectors using company filings.
Output produced by generative AI was at least as accurate, or legally correct, as a human lawyer’s first draft in 67% of cases. Human output had higher average scores for accuracy, and the AI content had greater variations than human-created content in how accurate it was.
The panel was unable to identify half of the AI-created output as coming from AI, but it made no mistakes on identifying human-created content.

“The Impact of Technology on Modern Legal Services” + other legaltech-related items

On 06/11/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, emerging technologies, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, tools, trends, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

The Impact of Technology on Modern Legal Services — from smdailyjournal.com

In an ever-evolving digital landscape, the fusion of technology and legal services has ushered in a new era of efficiency, accessibility, and innovation. The traditional image of legal professionals buried in stacks of paperwork and endless research has been transformed by cutting-edge technologies that promise to revolutionize how legal services are delivered, accessed, and executed. From artificial intelligence to blockchain, cloud computing to automation, the impact of technology on modern legal services is palpable and profound.

Technology Trends Shaping Legal Services
The legal industry is experiencing a seismic shift driven by technology, with key trends reshaping legal services. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing legal research, document analysis, and predictive analytics, enabling legal professionals to streamline their workflow and deliver more accurate and timely insights to clients. Blockchain technology improves the safety and transparency of legal transactions, while cloud computing optimizes data storage and accessibility in the legal sector.

Clients Care About Legal Tech: Dig Into Legal Tech and Tech Related Careers. — from legaltalknetwork.com by Dan Lear and Adriana Linares
A new survey proves clients care about a lawyer’s tech skills. Hear about adding the latest tech and about emerging jobs in the legal tech field.

A new survey finds that clients care deeply about their attorney’s tech tools and tech skills. The numbers don’t lie: Legal tech matters. An efficient, integrated system is no longer “nice to have.” It’s table stakes, from case management to client communications to online filing and billing.

The Digital Transformation Journey: Lessons For Lawyers Embracing AI — from abovethelaw.com by Olga V. Mack
The journey from the days of leather-bound law books to the digital age — and now toward an AI-driven future — offers valuable lessons for embracing change.

No One Will Miss The ‘Good Old Days’
I have yet to meet a lawyer nostalgic for the days of manually updating law reports or sifting through stacks of books for a single precedent. The convenience, speed, and breadth of digital research tools have made the practice of law more efficient and effective. As we move further into the AI era, the enhancements in predictive analytics, document automation, and legal research will make the “good old days” of even the early digital age seem quaint. The efficiencies and capabilities AI brings to the table are likely to become just as indispensable as online databases are today.

The Way We ‘Law’ Will Change For The Better
The ultimate goal of integrating AI into legal practice isn’t just to replace old methods with new ones; it’s to enhance our ability to serve justice, increase access to legal services, and improve the quality of our work. AI promises to automate mundane tasks, predict legal outcomes with greater accuracy, and unearth insights from vast data. These advancements will free us to focus more on the nuanced, human aspects of law — strategy, empathy, and ethical judgment.

AI to Help Double Legal Tech Market Over Five Years, Gartner Says — from news.bloomberglaw.com by Isabel Gottlieb (behind a paywall)

Tech to take up a bigger share of in-house legal spend
Generative AI boom has much longer to run

The legal tech market will expand to $50 billion by 2027, driven by the generative artificial intelligence boom, according to an analysis by market research firm Gartner Inc.

That growth, up from about $23 billion in 2022, will be driven by continued law firm spending on AI legal tech, as well as in-house departments allocating more of their overall budgets to technology, said Chris Audet, chief of research in Gartner’s legal, risk and compliance leaders practice. The market size prediction, released publicly on Thursday, comes from a late-2023 analysis for Gartner clients, and the 2022 market size comes from …

Legal Tech Market To See Huge Lift Off Thanks to GenAI — from digit.fyi by Elizabeth Greenberg

The global legal technology market has grown significantly in recent years and generative AI (GenAI) will accelerate this growth, meaning the market will reach $50 billion in value by 2027, according to Gartner.

“GenAI has huge potential for bringing more automation to the legal space,” said Chris Audet, chief of research in the Gartner for legal, risk & compliance leaders practice.

“Rapid GenAI developments, and the widespread availability of consumer tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, will quickly increase the number of established legal technology use cases, in turn creating growing market conditions for an increasing number of legal-focused tools.”

“New technologies can fundamentally change the way legal organizations do business, and GenAI has enormous potential to do this,” an analyst at Gartner said.

Revolutionizing Legal Tech in 48 Hours — from law.stanford.edu by Monica Schreiber
At CodeX Hackathon, SLS Students Help Create Award-Winning AI Tools to Help Veterans and Streamline M&A

Disabled veterans seeking to file claims with the Veterans Administration are faced with multiple hurdles and reams of paperwork. Many vets resort to paying third-party companies thousands of dollars to help them with the process.

What if there were a way to streamline the claims process—to condense burdensome information gathering and data inputting into a linear, simplified set of tasks guided by a chatbot? How long would it take to roll out a tool that could accomplish that?

The answer: about 48 hours—at least for an interdisciplinary team of students from Stanford University’s schools of Law, Business, and Computer Science collaborating feverishly during Codex’s Large Language Model (LLM) Hackathon held recently on campus.

What If Your Law Firm Had A Blank Page For Legal Tech? — from artificiallawyer.com

f law firms had a blank page for legal technology and innovation, what would they do?

While organisations across all sectors are getting to grips with the opportunities and risks posed by genAI, forward-thinking law firm leaders are considering what it means for their businesses – today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow.

But some firms remain constrained by yesterday, due to legacy processes, ways of working and mindsets. To create the conditions for change, firms need to adopt a ‘blank page’ approach and review all areas of their businesses by asking: if we were starting afresh, how would we design the organisation to future-proof it to achieve transformative growth with genAI at the core?

From DSC:
This sentence reminds me of the power of culture:

But some firms remain constrained by yesterday, due to legacy processes, ways of working and mindsets.

Fresh Voices on Legal Tech with Sarah Glassmeyer — from legaltalknetwork.com by Dennis Kennedy, Tom Mighell, and Sarah Glassmeyer

What if, instead of tech competence being this scary, overwhelming thing, we showed lawyers how to engage with technology in a more lighthearted, even playful, way? The reality is—tech competency doesn’t have an endpoint, but the process of continuous learning shouldn’t be dull and confusing. Sarah Glassmeyer joins Dennis and Tom to talk about her perspectives on technology education for attorneys, the latest trends in the legal tech world and new AI developments, and growing your knowledge of technology by building on small skills, one at a time.
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How Legal Technology Can Add Value to an M&A Practice — from lexology.com

Following is a primer on some of the A.I.-driven legal technologies, from contract review and automated due-diligence solutions to deal collaboration and closing-management tools, that can drive productivity and efficiency during the four phases of an M&A transaction, as well as enhance market insight and client service.

“The Legal Tech Ecosystem” [Levy] + “Virtual Legal Advising: Mastering Business and Property Matters Online” [Subhan]

On 04/04/2024, in innovation, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, tools, United States, vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, by Daniel Christian

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.

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.

“The 2024 Lawdragon 100 Leading AI & Legal Tech Advisors” [Dewey] + other legaltech-related items

On 03/16/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, law schools, learning theories, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, library / librarians, policy, privacy, productivity / tips and tricks, vendors, by Daniel Christian

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.
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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 [Ma, Sinha, Tandon, & Richards] + other legaltech-related items

On 03/12/2024, in emerging technologies, future, game-changing environment, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, podcasting, by Daniel Christian

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:

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

“Building Better Civil Justice Systems Isn’t Just About The Funding” [Lu & Chandler]

On 03/05/2024, in 21st century, emerging technologies, Europe, innovation, law schools, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, vendors, by Daniel Christian

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.

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.

Really cool stuff here. This is the present and future of law. https://t.co/qZGACAsX1S

— Colin S. Levy (@Clevy_Law) February 20, 2024

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:

Could Generative AI help solve the law’s access dilemma?
Legal regulators have failed to strike the right balance between accessibility and quality in legal services. It’s just possible that Gen AI could open the door to an entirely new solution.

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?

“Startup Alley Competition Proves It Continues To Be All About AI” [Patrice] + other legaltech related items

On 02/19/2024, in emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, ethics, experimentation, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, platforms, privacy, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, tools, vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, by Daniel Christian

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:

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

“Unraveling the Legal Tech Ecosystem: How People, Processes, and Tech Work Together” [Levy, Hathaway, & Ranns] + other legaltech-related items

On 02/13/2024, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, Natural Language Processing (NLP), podcasting, by Daniel Christian

Better Call GPT, Comparing Large Language Models Against Lawyers — from arxiv.org by Lauren Martin, Nick Whitehouse, Stephanie Yiu, Lizzie Catterson, & Rivindu Perera; via Azeem Azhar and Chantal Smith

This paper presents a groundbreaking comparison between Large Language Models (LLMs) and traditional legal contract reviewers—Junior Lawyers and Legal Process Outsourcers (LPOs). We dissect whether LLMs can outperform humans in accuracy, speed, and cost-efficiency during contract review. Our empirical analysis benchmarks LLMs against a ground truth set by Senior Lawyers, uncovering that advanced models match or exceed human accuracy in determining legal issues. In speed, LLMs complete reviews in mere seconds, eclipsing the hours required by their human counterparts. Cost-wise, LLMs operate at a fraction of the price, offering a staggering 99.97 percent reduction in cost over traditional methods. These results are not just statistics—they signal a seismic shift in legal practice. LLMs stand poised to disrupt the legal industry, enhancing accessibility and efficiency of legal services. Our research asserts that the era of LLM dominance in legal contract review is upon us, challenging the status quo and calling for a reimagined future of legal workflows.

Unraveling the Legal Tech Ecosystem: How People, Processes, and Tech Work Together — from legaltalknetwork.com by Colin Levy, JoAnn Hathaway, and Molly Ranns

Technology can help you solve problems in your law firm, connect with clients, save time and money, and so much more. But, how do you know what tech will work best for your practice? Molly Ranns and JoAnn Hathaway talk with Colin Levy about understanding and utilizing technology, common mistakes in choosing new tools, and ways to overcome tech-related fear and anxiety.

Legalweek Roundup: Top Takeaways for Litigation Teams — from jdsupra.com

Every time we attend Legalweek, we have a unique opportunity to tap into the collective knowledge of hundreds of legal professionals. This year at Legalweek 2024 we talked with peers in a wide variety of roles, from litigation support professionals and lawyers to partners and heads of innovation. Throughout the sessions and discussions, we started to notice a few common themes, interesting trends, and helpful insights.

Here’s the best of what we learned.

Learning Ecosystems