legislatures / government / legal

The Future of Digital Court Reporting [Sirna, Calloway, & Nelson]

On 12/29/2021, in 21st century, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, society, telelegal, trends, Virtual courts and law firms, by Daniel Christian

The Future of Digital Court Reporting — from legaltalknetwork.com by Tony Sirna, Jim Calloway and Sharon Nelson
Tony Sirna gives an overview of the evolution of digital court reporting and the improvement it has brought about in court proceedings.

Also see:

Webinar: What NOT to do in 2022. Legal Tech trends to ignore! — from onit.com

Excerpt:

How can you sort the helpful trends from the hype?

Three experts from Buying Legal, Consilio and Onit recently gathered to discuss just that. Together, they explored the current state of legal tech and AI, how corporate legal departments should function as we enter the new year and which current legal trends are better to avoid.

Read on to learn which legal tech trends you might want to pass on as we enter 2022.

Education Has Been Hammering the Wrong Nail. We Have to Focus on the Early Years. [Hau]

On 12/27/2021, in education, ideas, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, legislatures / government / legal, policy, society, United States, vision/possibilities, youth, by Daniel Christian

Education Has Been Hammering the Wrong Nail. We Have to Focus on the Early Years. — from edsurge.com by Isabelle Hau
This article is part of the guide Survival Mode: Educators Reflect on a Tough 2021 and Brace for the Future.

Excerpt:

Moreover, children who are expelled in preschool or early elementary are 10 times more likely to be incarcerated. Those later societal costs might have been avoided if the children are provided the nurturing attention in their early years to regulate their emotions and buffer toxic stress, which often results from exposure to trauma.
…
The value of the human potential unlocked by early education and social and emotional interventions is more difficult to assess: it is arguably limitless.

Autonomous Weapons Are Here, but the World Isn’t Ready for Them [Knight]

On 12/22/2021, in 21st century, Asia, Australia, Canada, emerging technologies, Europe, future, history, India, legislatures / government / legal, pace of change, political science, robotics, science, society, STEAM-related, surviving, technology (general), UK, United States, by Daniel Christian

Autonomous Weapons Are Here, but the World Isn’t Ready for Them — from wired.com by Will Knight
A UN report says a drone, operating without human control, attacked people in Libya. International efforts to restrict such weapons have so far failed.

This may be remembered as the year when the world learned that lethal autonomous weapons had moved from a futuristic worry to a battlefield reality. It’s also the year when policymakers failed to agree on what to do about it.

On Friday, 120 countries participating in the United Nations’ Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons could not agree on whether to limit the development or use of lethal autonomous weapons. Instead, they pledged to continue and “intensify” discussions.

The top 5 legal technology news of 2021 [Black]

On 12/21/2021, in business, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, vendors, by Daniel Christian

The top 5 legal technology news of 2021 — fromabajournal.com by Nicole Black

Excerpt:

There were also a significant number of acquisitions, resulting in the unprecedented consolidation of legal technology companies. What follows are the more notable examples, although there were many others that are not listed below.

Litera acquired Kira Systems, Clocktimizer, DocsCorp and Foundation Software.
MyCase acquired Soluno, Casepeer and Woodpecker.
Clio acquired CalendarRules and Lawyaw.
Francisco Partners acquired Paradigm, which had previously acquired PracticePanther, Headnote, Bill4Time and MerusCase.
Private equity firm Warburg Pincus acquired NetDocuments.
Smokeball-Leap-InfoTrack Group acquired LawLytics and Lawgical.
ProfitSolv acquired Tabs3 (and also owns Rocket Matter, Cosmolex, LexCharge, ImagineTime and TimeSolv).
Veritext acquired Reportex.
Intapp acquired Repstor.
Onit acquired Bodhala and BusyLamp.
Consilio acquired Xact Data Discovery.

Also see:

Legal Transformation Is A Business Story — from forbes.com by Mark Cohen
Excerpt:
The first step in law’s transformation journey is to align the legal function with the mission, purpose, and culture of business and to instill a customer- centric, team-oriented mindset. This is not an easy or quick process, but it is a necessary one. The legal function cannot achieve alignment unless it: speaks the language of business and understands its goals and risk profile, works proactively and at the speed of business, operates as a team (internally and across the enterprise), upskills, and adopts a customer-centric, results-oriented approach to everything it does. Legal must embrace the data-backed, tech-enabled, multidisciplinary approach to problem-solving, value-creation, and customer-centricity of business.

Three items re: California’s Access-To-Justice (#A2J) Crisis

On 12/21/2021, in 21st century, Access to Justice (A2J), Legal operations, legal reform, legislatures / government / legal, policy, United States, by Daniel Christian

California Lawmakers Ignore Data in Calls to Restrict the Expansion of Legal Services — from iaals.du.edu

Excerpt:

Earlier this week, two California lawmakers spoke up about these issues. Cheryl Miller, writing for Law.com’s The Recorder, reports: “The chairs of California’s two legislative judiciary committees this week accused the state bar of ‘divert[ing] its attention from its core mission of protecting the public’ by pursuing proposals to allow nonlawyers to offer a limited range of legal services.”

California Supreme Court Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye called the criticism “not surprising,” and we would agree. After all, it is the same message we’ve heard time and again from opponents to any real, impactful change within the legal profession. And the assumptions underlying that message have been discredited by our organization and many other scholars, researchers, and even regulators in other countries. So it is frustrating just how widespread and misleading opponent claims can be.

In response to CA Judiciary letter’s concern about encouraging legal innovation, Professor David Engstrom, CLP’s Lucy Ricca, former LSC President Jim Sandman, Prof. Rebecca Sandefur and others: The A2J crisis is “too urgent to put on the back burner.” https://t.co/Uzo6lej0ti

— SLS Legal Profession (@StanfordCLP) December 17, 2021

Professor @DavidEngstrom5, co-director of @StanfordCLP, discusses the urgent access-to-justice crisis currently gripping CA and the CA State Bar’s Closing the Justice Gap working group. https://t.co/zpbPlwBIhO

— StanfordLaw (@StanfordLaw) December 17, 2021

Three items related to how the legal realm needs to be ready to address emerging technologies

On 12/17/2021, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, emerging technologies, innovation, law schools, legal reform, legislatures / government / legal, policy, by Daniel Christian

AI bots to user data: Is there space for rights in the metaverse? — from news.trust.org by Sonia Elks
In a virtual world populated by digital characters, privacy and property rights face unprecedented challenges, campaigners say

From virtual goods to AI-powered avatars that can be hired out by companies, a fast-growing digital world is pushing ownership and privacy rights into unchartered territory.

NYC Targets Artificial Intelligence Bias in Hiring Under New Law — from news.bloomberglaw.com by Erin Mulvaney

New York City has a new law on the books—one of the boldest measures of its kind in the country—that aims to curb hiring bias that can occur when businesses use artificial intelligence tools to screen out job candidates.

Employers in the city will be banned from using automated employment decision tools to screen job candidates, unless the technology has been subject to a “bias audit” conducted a year before the use of the tool.

‘Innovation Averse’ Law Schools Risk Missing Out on the Legal Industry’s Regulatory Renaissance — from law.com

“If law professors and legal educators and law school administrators aren’t in tune with how the practice of law is changing, not just in terms of how you deliver legal services, but these new areas that are emerging, then we’re doing a great disservice to our students,” said April Dawson, associate dean of Technology and Innovation at North Carolina Central University School of Law, during the “Redesigning Legal” speaker series panel discussion this week.

Four resources relating to legaltech — from Zach Abramowitz

On 12/17/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Access to Justice (A2J), change, changing business models, collaboration, communications, disruption, entrepreneurship, game-changing environment, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, new business models, United States, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The following items are from a recent presentation by Zach Abramowitz entitled “Legal Disruption: Key Trends to Watch in 2022.” By the way, you can sign up for Zach’s legal newsletter at zachabramowitz.substack.com/

Marble Law

Darrow raises $20 million to uncover corporate legal violations and bring justice to all — from calcalistech.com by Meir Orbach
The Israeli startup is focused on locating violations that have caused damage to millions of people on average – the threshold for a potential class-action lawsuit

Excerpt:

Darrow has developed a machine learning-based platform which discovers legal violations by some of the biggest corporations in the world. Operating chiefly in the U.S., the company is focused on locating violations that have caused damage to millions of people on average – the threshold for a potential class-action lawsuit.

TermScout

Virtual law firms see 38% jump in recruitment [McCulloch]

On 12/15/2021, in game-changing environment, innovation, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, telelegal, UK, user experience (UX), vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual courts and law firms, by Daniel Christian

Virtual law firms see 38% jump in recruitment — from personneltoday.com by Adam McCulloch

Excerpt:

In late 2020, 1,355 lawyers worked for such virtual firms, a number that has risen to 1,875 by autumn of 2021. In 2019, 1,272 worked for such firms.

Also see:

8 Ways Lawyers Are Getting Together Online This Year — from jdsupra.com

From DSC:
As I looked at the article below, I couldn’t help but wonder…what is the role of the American Bar Association (ABA) in this type situation? How can the ABA help the United States deal with the impact/place of emerging technologies?

Clearview AI will get a US patent for its facial recognition tech — from engadget.com by J. Fingas
Critics are worried the company is patenting invasive tech.

Excerpt:

Clearview AI is about to get formal acknowledgment for its controversial facial recognition technology. Politico reports Clearview has received a US Patent and Trademark Office “notice of allowance” indicating officials will approve a filing for its system, which scans faces across public internet data to find people from government lists and security camera footage. The company just has to pay administrative fees to secure the patent.

In a Politico interview, Clearview founder Hoan Ton-That claimed this was the first facial recognition patent involving “large-scale internet data.” The firm sells its tool to government clients (including law enforcement) hoping to accelerate searches.

As you might imagine, there’s a concern the USPTO is effectively blessing Clearview’s technology and giving the company a chance to grow despite widespread objections to its technology’s very existence.

Privacy, news, facial recognition, USPTO, internet, patent,
Clearview AI, surveillance, tomorrow, AI, artificial intelligence

Michigan Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack on the Transformative Possibilities of this Moment [Penn Law]

On 12/09/2021, in Access to Justice (A2J), Canada, game-changing environment, ideas, innovation, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, Michigan, podcasting, society, strategy, technology (general), United States, Virtual courts and law firms, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Michigan Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack on the Transformative Possibilities of this Moment — from law.upenn.edu with Michigan Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack

Excerpt:

Bridget Mary McCormack is Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court and is a leading voice on modernizing court systems to expand access to justice and deepen public confidence in legal systems.

On this episode, she joins us to share her thoughts on how courts can learn from the experiences COVID-19 has created to better serve the public in a post-pandemic world. She also shares her views on how regulatory reform can transform legal services and why improving legal systems matters for the entire American experiment.

Addendum on 12/13/21:
Ontario Court Lays Down the Law on Technology Competence and Video Proceedings — from legaltechmonitor.com by Bob Ambrogi

An Ontario judge has laid down the law on technology competence, ruling in no uncertain terms that every lawyer has a duty to keep pace with changing technology, and that a lawyer’s discomfort with new technologies — in this case, video depositions — is no excuse for reverting to pre-pandemic methods.

UpCounsel Crowdfunds $3.3m, Plans IPO + Cuts Legal Costs By 75%! [artificiallawyer.com]

On 12/09/2021, in 24x7x365 access, business, ideas, innovation, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, by Daniel Christian

UpCounsel Crowdfunds $3.3m, Plans IPO + Cuts Legal Costs By 75%! — from artificiallawyer.com

Excerpt:

The last point is how this helps to encourage more crowdfunding in this sector. Ruby Datum the VDR company is also currently doing a crowdfunding, and Clocktimizer was funded in the same way before it was bought up by Litera. So, perhaps we will see more approaches like this. That said, UpCounsel is itself owned by an investment group – along with 1,630 others now, so it’s not a pure-play crowdfunding in its entirety.

This will be watched by the VC world and the legal market in general for signs of whether it is succeeding with its goals.

Also see:

TECHREPORT 2021: Technology Training — from lawtechnologytoday.org by Sofia Lingos

2022 Predictions – The Market View: Part 1

On 12/09/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Access to Justice (A2J), game-changing environment, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, by Daniel Christian

2022 Predictions – The Market View: Part 1 — from artificiallawyer.com

Excerpt:

What do people want to see happen in 2022? And what do they think will really take place next year? These were the two questions Artificial Lawyer asked a range of legal tech experts from across the market. The quality of responses was so good, and the views expressed so detailed, that this year the 2022 Predictions will be published in two instalments.

Here we go…

We would like to see states across the U.S. tear down regulatory barriers to innovation in legal services. We would like to see human-centred design thinking at the heart of every product, process, and service. We would like to see our community – from law schools to tech companies – advance the cause of access to justice.

What does the legal realm need to know here? [Christian]

On 12/08/2021, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, business, change, computer science, copyright/ownership/NFTs, corporate / business world, cryptocurrencies, Daniel S. Christian, economics, law schools, Legal operations, legislatures / government / legal, platforms, privacy, programming, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
When I ran across the items below, I couldn’t help but wonder…”What does the legal realm need to know here?”

The Ultimate List Of Crypto Lending Platforms — from 101blockchains.com by Diego Geroni

Know The Vulnerabilities And Security Concerns Associated With NFT — from 101blockchains.com by Diego Geroni

Radar trends to watch: December 2021 — from oreilly.com by Mike Loukides
Developments in Programming, Quantum Computing, Cryptocurrency, and More

NFT sales reached $27 billion this year — from protocol.com by Nat Rubio-Licht
OpenSea dominated the business.

UNISWAP – Know Everything About The Largest Decentralized Exchange (DEX) — from 101blockchains.com by Diego Geroni

From the Paul Weiss Law Firm: A 2019 whitepaper re: cryptocurrency. | How might the development of cryptocurrencies integrate in with a next-gen learning platform? [Christian]

On 12/01/2021, in Blockchain, business, change, changing business models, corporate / business world, cryptocurrencies, Daniel S. Christian, law schools, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, legislatures / government / legal, marketplaces, new business models, online learning, platforms, society, vendors, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

From the Paul Weiss Law Firm — back from 2019: A whitepaper re: cryptocurrency

Excerpt:

The development and growth of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology has implications for many industries, including finance, media, and healthcare. In a series of papers, we will discuss the variety of ways in which cryptocurrencies and blockchains are being used in different fields. This paper, the first in our series of three papers, discusses cryptocurrencies, including how they operate in conjunction with the blockchain and how Bitcoin, the first major cryptocurrency, compares to traditional, fiat currencies.

From DSC:
How might the development of cryptocurrencies integrate in with a next-gen learning platform? Would teams and/or individuals get paid via a cryptocurrency? Hmmm…more learning to do.

It’s interesting to note what Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was trading at in 2017, 2018, and 2019 versus today:

In 2017 alone, Bitcoin’s price rose from $973 in January to $5,856 in October, and skyrocketed towards $20,000 by year end.
By February 2018, however, Bitcoin had fallen below $7,600.
In June 2019, Bitcoin’s price rose to approximately $10,000.

Today:

Here’s what some of the other cryptocurrencies were trading at today:

4 items involving the legal realm — tools, global internships, websites, marketing

On 11/24/2021, in 21st century, career development, change, communications, culture, game-changing environment, global / globalization, innovation, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, marketing/social marketing, tools, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Fastcase Unveils NextChapter Docs Form Preparation, Client Management Tools, and Workflow Tools for All Practice Areas — from legaltechmonitor.com by Jaime Houssami

Excerpt:

To that end, NextChapter is soon releasing a Forms Exchange, where seasoned attorneys can upload their form templates to the marketplace for other attorneys to purchase for their own use. “Providing access to pre-built forms designed by subject matter experts will be useful for many of the solo and small firm practitioners,” said NextChapter’s first Forms attorney author Carolyn Elefant.

TechReport 2021: Websites & Marketing — from lawtechnologytoday.org by Allison C. Johs

Excerpt:

The COVID-19 pandemic brought changes to the practice of law–many of which were overdue–including virtual meetings and client conferences, remote document signings, court appearances by Zoom and Microsoft Teams, and more. But according to the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center’s 2021 Legal Technology Survey Report results on the use of technology in the legal profession, there is still work to be done.

Linklaters launches virtual global business teams internship — from legaltechnology.com by Caroline Hill

Excerpt:

While most law firm internships are focussed exclusively on attracting future lawyers, magic circle law firm Linklaters has launched a virtual global business teams internship programme aimed at 16- to 18-year-old students. The new internship, which will be welcomed by many for shining a light on the key functions that enable a law firm to run and succeed, will help interns to become aware of the wide range of career options available at Linklaters.

Linklaters Internships For 16-18 Year Olds To Cover Legal Ops + Tech — from artificiallawyer.com

Learning Ecosystems

The Future of Digital Court Reporting [Sirna, Calloway, & Nelson]

The top 5 legal technology news of 2021 [Black]

Three items re: California’s Access-To-Justice (#A2J) Crisis

Four resources relating to legaltech — from Zach Abramowitz

Virtual law firms see 38% jump in recruitment [McCulloch]

Michigan Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack on the Transformative Possibilities of this Moment [Penn Law]

UpCounsel Crowdfunds $3.3m, Plans IPO + Cuts Legal Costs By 75%! [artificiallawyer.com]

2022 Predictions – The Market View: Part 1

From the Paul Weiss Law Firm: A 2019 whitepaper re: cryptocurrency. | How might the development of cryptocurrencies integrate in with a next-gen learning platform? [Christian]

4 items involving the legal realm — tools, global internships, websites, marketing

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