legislatures / government / legal

Comprehensive Study of Regulatory Reform Finds It Is Driving ‘Substantial Innovation’ In Legal Services Delivery with No Harm to Consumers [Ambrogi]

On 09/28/2022, in experimentation, ideas, innovation, law schools, leadership, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Comprehensive Study of Regulatory Reform Finds It Is Driving ‘Substantial Innovation’ In Legal Services Delivery with No Harm to Consumers — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

Excerpt:

A Stanford Law School study published today of regulatory reforms in Utah and Arizona finds that they are “spurring substantial innovation,” that they are critical to serving lower-income populations, and that they do not pose any substantial risk of consumer harm.

“The evidence gathered in this report shows that rule reforms can spur significant innovation, both in the ownership structure of legal services providers and in the delivery models used to serve clients,” the report concludes.

Also relevant/see the following article form Penn Law’s Future of the Profession Initiative: Law 2030 Initiative/newsletter:

How A Law Prof Is Training Non-Attys As Immigrant Advocates — from law360.com by Marco Poggio

Michelle Pistone, professor at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, saw a bigger opportunity for online technology after using it to reach law students across the country. She realized online tech could be used to remotely train nonlawyers to become advocates for immigrants and even represent them in court, ultimately helping to combat the severe lack of legal representation in immigration cases. “This is a moment in time when we have an opportunity to think about new models for the delivery of legal services,” Pistone said.

Legal technology trends [wolterskluwer.com]

On 09/22/2022, in law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, by Daniel Christian

Legal technology trends – insights from 751 legal professionals — from wolterskluwer.com
Future Ready Lawyer Survey: new and improved legal technology capabilities are driving greater resilience, improved client relations and higher performance for many organizations in the industry across Europe and the U.S. 63% of technology leading law firms report their profitability increased over the past year – more than any other firms.

Excerpt:

Legal technology report

The 2022 Survey identified industry trends across Europe and the U.S. that show:

The increasing importance of technology is escalating across law firms and corporate legal departments;
Technology is a critical factor to legal departments in firm selection and retention; and
The greater use of technology is among the leading changes expected in both legal departments and law firms.

The need for technology as a key driver of improved performance, efficiency and productivity is undisputed. Yet organizations struggle to optimize their use of technology, signaling improvements are still needed in change management and training on new tools.

Also relevant/see:

Legal trends report – the top 5 trends expected to impact most legal organizations — from wolterskluwer.com

Excerpt:

Challenges include complexity of compliance requirements, higher performance expectations, growing talent tensions and the escalated demand of emerging areas such as Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG).

Also relevant/see:

Why Successful Law Firms Choose Legal Technology — from natlawreview.com

Excerpt:

What it takes to manage a successful law firm has shifted. A firm’s accolades and long-standing tradition are now just a drop in the bucket for prospective clients.

While some law firms still aren’t sold on the use of legal technology, the top-performing firms today embrace legal technology by aligning their business operations with the digital processes that influence their clients’ daily lives. By implementing modern processes these firms experience predictable cash flow, increased visibility, improved productivity, and increased client satisfaction, to name a few.

The Artificial Lawyer Guide to Legal Tech – Autumn 2022 [artificiallawyer.com]

On 09/15/2022, in Access to Justice (A2J), Cost of legal services - including access, law schools, Legal operations, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, UK, by Daniel Christian

The Artificial Lawyer Guide to Legal Tech – Autumn 2022 — from artificiallawyer.com

Excerpt:

It’s been a wild ride the last couple of years, but what should we be looking out for as we move into the Autumn of 2022? Here are some thoughts from Artificial Lawyer.

Bridget McCormick, Michigan Chief Justice Who Has Championed Access-to-Justice Initiatives, Named President of AAA [Ambrogi]

On 09/15/2022, in 21st century, Access to Justice (A2J), leadership, legal reform, legislatures / government / legal, Michigan, society, United States, by Daniel Christian

Bridget McCormick, Michigan Chief Justice Who Has Championed Access-to-Justice Initiatives, Named President of AAA — from legaltechmonitor.com by Bob Ambrogi

Excerpt:

Bridget M. McCormack, who, as chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, has been a leading voice on modernizing the court and justice systems to expand access to justice, is retiring from the court at the end of this year and in February will become president and chief executive officer of the American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA-ICDR).
…
In recent years, McCormack has become a leading champion of initiatives to enhance access to justice, both within Michigan and nationally.

DSC: I post this with great hesitation. But there’s some truth in here.

On 09/12/2022, in career development, education, education reform, face-to-face, K-12 related, legislatures / government / legal, parents/guardians, policy, student-related, teachers, United States, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I post this with great hesitation. But there’s some truth in here.

ADA Accessibility Lawsuit Tracker: Final Numbers for August 2022

On 09/12/2022, in accessibility / UDL, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), legislatures / government / legal, neurodivergent/special needs, by Daniel Christian

ADA Accessibility Lawsuit Tracker: Final Numbers for August 2022 — from info.usablenet.com

Also see:

Download our 2022 Mid-Year Report on Digital Accessibility Lawsuits — from info.usablenet.com
Our Digital Accessibility Report highlights the newest trends in digital accessibility lawsuits.

What if smart TVs’ new killer app was a next-generation learning-related platform? [Christian]

On 09/06/2022, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, Design Thinking, digital audio, digital learning, digital photography, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, disruption, distance education, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, legislatures / government / legal, liberal arts, library / librarians, lifelong learning, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, second screen apps, skills, smart classrooms, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, strategy, streams of content, surviving, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, telelegal, telemedicine / telehealth / virtual health, telepresence, television, tools, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, TVs, ubiquitous learning, United States, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, Web3, webinars, by Daniel Christian

TV makers are looking beyond streaming to stay relevant — from protocol.com by Janko Roettgers and Nick Statt

Excerpts:

The search for TV’s next killer app
TV makers have some reason to celebrate these days: Streaming has officially surpassed cable and broadcast as the most popular form of TV consumption; smart TVs are increasingly replacing external streaming devices; and the makers of these TVs have largely figured out how to turn those one-time purchases into recurring revenue streams, thanks to ad-supported services.
…
What TV makers need is a new killer app. Consumer electronics companies have for some time toyed with the idea of using TV for all kinds of additional purposes, including gaming, smart home functionality and fitness. Ad-supported video took priority over those use cases over the past few years, but now, TV brands need new ways to differentiate their devices.

Turning the TV into the most useful screen in the house holds a lot of promise for the industry. To truly embrace this trend, TV makers might have to take some bold bets and be willing to push the envelope on what’s possible in the living room.

From DSC:
What if smart TVs’ new killer app was a next-generation learning-related platform? Could smart TVs deliver more blended/hybrid learning? Hyflex-based learning?
.

.

Or what if smart TVs had to do with delivering telehealth-based apps? Or telelegal/virtual courts-based apps?

ABA cleans up accreditation rules surrounding distance education for law schools — from highereddive.com by Lilah Burke

Dive Brief (emphasis DSC):

Recent amendments to American Bar Association accreditation standards addressed definitions of distance education, but Leo Martinez, immediate past chair of the ABA Council for the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, says the resolution won’t change much for law schools without waivers allowing them to conduct extra distance education.
The changes, made at the ABA’s annual meeting in August, were meant to clarify language in accreditation standards.
The ABA, which serves as the accreditor for 199 law schools and programs, requires waivers for institutions that want to offer more than one-third of J.D. program credits online. But it remains interested in reviewing distance education.

From DSC:
For an industry in the 21st century whose main accreditation/governance body for law schools still won’t let more online learning occur without waivers…

…how can our nation expect future lawyers and law firms to be effective in an increasingly tech-enabled world?

Here’s the pace of change in the world today:

The exponential pace of change is like warp speed for the U.S.S. Enterprise (Star Trek) or the hyperdrive on the Millennium Falcon (Star Wars).

Yet here’s the pace that the American Bar Association (@ABAesq) has been taking — and continues to take — at least in the area of supporting online-based learning as well as in developing sandboxes/new methods of improving access to justice (#A2J):

.

It’s high time the ABA did their research re: online-based learning and majorly picked up their pace. Undergraduate online-based education started back in the late 1990’s for crying out loud! (And the number of students taking one or more of their courses completely online has been increasing ever since that time.)

Plus, many law school students are adults who have jobs as well as families. They often don’t have the time nor the money to travel to campuses in order to take part in something that they could have easily accomplished online.

It’s also appropriate to recognize here that the current learning ecosystems out there continue to move more towards hybrid/blended learning models as well as a hyflex model.

The ABA is not serving law school students nor our citizenry well at all in this regard.

Resources re: legal research/analysis/publishing/dockets as well as efiling

On 08/31/2022, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, corporate / business world, innovation, law schools, Legal operations, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, productivity / tips and tricks, tools, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

After spending 14 years+ on the legal research/analysis/publishing/dockets and efiling side of #LegalTech, I will soon embark on an entirely (new to me) area. But, over the last year or so, I have been documenting some of my knowledge, should it be helpful to anyone:

a ?

— Jennifer Marsh (@legalytical) August 29, 2022

How Neural Nets Are Liberating Legal Search from the Keyword Prison — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

Excerpt:

Why does this matter? Because in legal search, we should be able to search concepts and circumstances. We should be able to search for legal holdings or fact patterns even when the words do not square up.

That is the keyword prison in which we remain locked.

Well, your liberator is here, and she comes in the form of the neural network. It is technology that enables search queries to find highly relevant results, even when the results contain not even one of the search terms.

Not only do neural nets free search from the constraints of keywords, but they also humanize it, making search operations function more like our brains – thus the “neural” moniker.

“Mixed reactions as ABA considers tossing LSAT mandate” [Bauer-Wolf] + three other items re: the legal industry

On 08/29/2022, in law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, podcasting, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Mixed reactions as ABA considers tossing LSAT mandate — from highereddive.com by Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
Comments are pouring in from law professors, students and test prep companies as the association ponders chucking the exam requirement.

Excerpt:

The American Bar Association’s proposal to remove requirements that applicants submit entrance exam scores — notably the Law School Admission Test — has so far drawn a mixed reaction from legal professionals and academics.

Pro Bono Net Launches Redesigned LawHelp.org — from connectingjusticecommunities.com by Jessica Darling

Excerpt:

Pro Bono Net is pleased to announce the launch of the redesigned and expanded LawHelp.org, the national gateway to nonprofit legal aid resources and referrals in the U.S. This inviting and inclusive redesign allows users to more easily find and access help for fundamental legal needs.

LawHelp.org was created to help people without lawyers understand their rights, make informed decisions, and connect to help in their local community. This national platform provides referrals to trusted civil legal aid resources in every U.S. state and territory, including a network of 20 statewide legal information portals developed using the LawHelp platform.

Fantastic podcasts in this list and in the replies. Grateful that @mch_tweets included #HowILawyer. Love being a part of this learning/sharing/storytelling ecosystem! https://t.co/6GHTbLL0Sg

— Jonah Perlin (@JonahPerlin) August 17, 2022

I would highly recommend reading “Assessing America’s Access to Civil Justice Crisis” by R. Sandefur and J. Teufel to understand the data and varied responses to this question: https://t.co/AOcRl2LGrC

— Matthew Burnett (he, him) (@mjburnett) August 26, 2022

Five items related to the legal industry

On 08/26/2022, in Access to Justice (A2J), Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, data related items, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, United States, using teams, vendors, by Daniel Christian

The Finalists of the American Legal Technology Awards Are…! — from artificiallawyer.com

Excerpt:

After receiving 225 submissions across eight categories, the American Legal Technology Awards have today announced the lucky finalists. They include a wide range of companies and individuals, ranging from judges, to law firms, to startups and larger legal tech businesses. So, without further ado, here are the finalists in the table below, with three finalists in each category.

Looking For Trouble And Finding It: The ABA Resolution To Condemn Non-Lawyer Ownership — from professionalresponsibility.fkks.com by Ron Minkoff

Excerpt:

At the ABA Annual Meeting last week, the Illinois State Bar Association (“ISBA”), the New York State Bar Association (“NYSBA”), and several ABA entities sponsored Local Resolution 402 (hereafter, the “ISBA Resolution”) in an effort to stop the entire ABA – if not the entire American legal profession – from permitting non-lawyer ownership of law firms, in any form. The ISBA Resolution read as follows:

Teaching (and Pressuring) Law Professors to Teach Technology – Katie Brown (TGIR Ep. 171) — from legaltechmonitor.com by Greg Lambert & Marlene Gebauer

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

In her view, law professors “are required to educate people so that they can go out into the practice and successfully do that. And so beyond just, rule 1.1 with legal technology and having that competency, for us as law schools, I think we have an ethical obligation to be teaching legal technology.” This approach needs to be embedded into the Law School’s culture, because it costs money, time, and effort to do correctly.

From DSC:
Agree. I completely agree.

Understanding The Justice Gap — from medium.com by Kevin Golembiewski

Excerpt:

The law is a language. Pleading, cause of action, discovery, hearsay, res judicata, statute of limitations, civil procedure. To understand and protect your legal rights, you must learn this language and the complex rules that govern it. Or you must find an interpreter — that is, a lawyer. No different than if you were in a foreign country without an interpreter, if you have a legal problem but no lawyer, you cannot advocate for yourself.

That is the reality for millions of low-income Americans, according to a recent study by the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). About 50 million Americans have household incomes below 125% of the poverty threshold, and 92% of them do not have any, or enough, legal help for their civil legal issues — issues that range from eviction to domestic violence to disability benefits. Those Americans are stranded in the land of the law without an interpreter.

Litera releases The Changing Lawyer Report 2022 at ILTACON — from legalitprofessionals.com

Key takeaways

The five trends to watch, with some representative data points from the report include:

Allied professionals (process managers, technologists, data analysts, etc.) play a more significant role in supporting law firms and lawyers and enhancing legal service delivery. 83% of lawyers believe that allied professionals make their job easier.
Automation is everywhere, as law firms turn to AI and other technologies to enhance the speed and accuracy of legal processes across all practice areas. 91% of lawyers expect AI-based document review to become a standard part of most M&A due diligence processes.
Technology and data improve client service delivery by providing real-time insights about law firm performance, pricing and budgeting, and work allocation. 78% of lawyers agree that technology helps them offer a better client experience.
Cloud-based solutions are taking over, driven partly by the obvious need for remote and blended workplace access to law firm applications that arose during the pandemic. Leading types of cloud applications that have been moved to the cloud include financial and practice management (64% of firms), document management (53%), portals and intranets (35%), and business intelligence platforms (31%).
Changing work expectations are a significant driver of technology adoption when lawyer recruitment and retention are challenges for law firms. A new generation of lawyers sees technology as a path to better work/life balance. 53% of lawyers ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’ with the statement technology makes my job more enjoyable.

Test proctoring room scans violated college student’s privacy, judge rules [Schwartz]

On 08/25/2022, in colleges, community colleges, higher education, legislatures / government / legal, platforms, privacy, student-related, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, United States, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, by Daniel Christian

Test proctoring room scans violated college student’s privacy, judge rules — from highereddive.com by Natalie Schwartz

Excerpt from Dive Brief:

Cleveland State University violated the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable government searches and seizures by scanning rooms via online proctoring software before students took exams, a federal judge ruled Monday.

#ILTACON22 Day One Roundup [Ambrogi]

On 08/23/2022, in analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, data related items, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, tools, by Daniel Christian

#ILTACON22 Day One Roundup: News from DISCO, Docket Alarm, LexFusion, Relativity and Reveal — from legaltechmonitor.com by Bob Ambrogi

Excerpt:

[8/22/22] kicks off the first full day of ILTACON22, the annual conference of the International Legal Technology Association. Already, the day has brought a slew of news announcements from legal technology companies.

Here is a roundup of news announced this morning.

ABA’s Profile of the Legal Profession for 2022 plus three other legal-related items

On 08/21/2022, in career development, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, United States, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

ABA’s Profile of the Legal Profession for 2022 — from americanbar.org

Here’s What the Legal Profession Looks Like in 2022 — from legaltechmonitor.com by Laura Bagby

Excerpt:

White, male attorneys continue to make up the majority of lawyers in the U.S., according to the ABA’s Profile of the Legal Profession, an annual report on diversity in the legal profession that was released last month.

However, the number of female attorneys and those from underrepresented ethnic and racial communities is growing, especially among law students and associates.

California Takes Up Law Firm Ownership Fight After ABA Sidesteps — from news.bloomberglaw.com by Sam Skolnik

Excerpt:

The fight to overhaul law firm ownership limits is moving to California after the American Bar Association sided against major changes.

State lawmakers are set to vote before the end of the month on legislation that would allow the California bar to test new legal service models to make them more affordable. An amended version of the bill would still prevent non-lawyer companies from co-owning firms, however, and ban the sharing of legal fees with non-lawyers.

Founded Just Eight Months Ago, Redgrave Data Reports ‘Enormous’ Growth in its E-Discovery and Data Services Company — from lawnext.com by Bob Ambrogi

Excerpt:

Now, eight months after its launch, Redgrave Data is reporting that it has seen enormous growth, bringing on multiple anchor clients that include some of the world’s largest tech companies — although it is not naming names — and says it plans to establish a “significant presence” in Germany by the end of the year to serve clients there and globally.

Learning Ecosystems

Comprehensive Study of Regulatory Reform Finds It Is Driving ‘Substantial Innovation’ In Legal Services Delivery with No Harm to Consumers [Ambrogi]

Legal technology trends [wolterskluwer.com]

The Artificial Lawyer Guide to Legal Tech – Autumn 2022 [artificiallawyer.com]

Bridget McCormick, Michigan Chief Justice Who Has Championed Access-to-Justice Initiatives, Named President of AAA [Ambrogi]

ADA Accessibility Lawsuit Tracker: Final Numbers for August 2022

In the USA, the perspectives of the ABA re: online-based learning — and their take on the pace of change — are downright worrisome. [Christian]

“Mixed reactions as ABA considers tossing LSAT mandate” [Bauer-Wolf] + three other items re: the legal industry

ABA’s Profile of the Legal Profession for 2022 plus three other legal-related items

Categories

Tags