{"id":63227,"date":"2018-04-13T09:35:06","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T13:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/?p=63227"},"modified":"2018-04-13T09:37:12","modified_gmt":"2018-04-13T13:37:12","slug":"the-law-firm-disrupted-walmart-wont-pay-you-to-cut-and-paste-strom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/2018\/04\/13\/the-law-firm-disrupted-walmart-wont-pay-you-to-cut-and-paste-strom\/","title":{"rendered":"The Law Firm Disrupted: Walmart Won’t Pay You to Cut and Paste [Strom]"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Law Firm Disrupted: Walmart Won’t Pay You to Cut and Paste<\/strong><\/a> — from law.com by Roy Strom
\nThe world’s largest retailer, locked in a battle over the future of its business, has developed a tool to help make its many outside lawyers more efficient.<\/em><\/p>\n

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Walmart Inc. announced it would be\u00a0rolling out 500 more giant vending machines<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0in its stores to deliver online orders in seconds. The tool is designed to compete with online delivery services from Amazon.com Inc.<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s largest retailer also announced this week a tool that will compete (in some sense) with its outside counsel. Walmart has licensed a product from LegalMation that automatically drafts responses and initial discovery requests for employment and slip-and-fall suits filed in California. By this fall, the product should cover those cases in all 50 states.<\/p>\n

LegalMation says it takes under two minutes to drag and drop a PDF of a suit into its product and receive a response to that case, in addition to a set of targeted requests for documents, form interrogatories and special interrogatories. That work has traditionally been handled by junior lawyers at Walmart\u2019s outside firms, and LegalMation claims it can take them up to 10 hours to do. The savings on preparing an answer to these complaints is as much as 80 percent, LegalMation said.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re still reviewing the outcome and reviewing the affirmative defenses,\u201d said LegalMation co-founder Thomas Suh,\u00a0a longtime legal technology advocate<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cYou\u2019re eliminating the brainless cutting and pasting.\u201d<\/p>\n

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About six months after the Harvard program, Lee and Suh had drilled down on where to apply AI, and they teamed up with IBM\u2019s Watson to build their product. They also had to develop their own neural network that they said is the \u201csecret sauce\u201d to LegalMation\u2019s ability to parse legalese.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>\u201cWe would not be able to do this without an AI engine like Watson, and likewise I don\u2019t think a product like this would be doable without our neural network,\u201d Lee said.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Automation in the Legal Industry: How Will It Affect Recent Law School Grads? <\/strong><\/a>— from nationaljurist.com by Martin Pritikin<\/p>\n

Excerpt:<\/em><\/p>\n

A 2017 study by McKinsey Global Institute found that roughly half of all work activities globally have the potential to be automated by technology. A follow-on study (also from McKinsey in 2017) concluded that up to one-third of work activities could be displaced by 2030. What, if any, impacts do these eye-popping findings have on the future on the legal profession, especially for recent law school graduates embarking on their careers?<\/p>\n

Recently, it was announced that ROSS, a legal research artificial intelligence platform powered in part by IBM\u2019s Watson technology, was unveiling a new product, EVA, which will not only find applicable cases, but quality check case citations and history. As usual, this latest development has gotten people worried that human lawyers\u2014and, in particular, recent law grads who have traditionally been tasked with legal research\u2014may be on a path to extinction.<\/p>\n

Obviously, no one can predict the future with certainty. But if history is any guide, these new technological developments will shift the type of work new lawyers are expected to do, but won\u2019t necessarily eliminate it.<\/p>\n

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We may not be facing a future without lawyers. But it is going to be a future that requires lawyers to learn how to utilize technology effectively to serve their clients\u2014something we should all welcome, not fear.<\/p>\n

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College of Law Announces the Launch of the Nation’s First Live Online J.D. Program<\/strong><\/a> — from law.syr.edu<\/p>\n

Excerpt:<\/em><\/p>\n

The American Bar Association has granted the Syracuse University College of Law a variance to offer a fully interactive online juris doctor program. The online J.D. program will be the first in the nation to combine real-time and self-paced online classes, on-campus residential classes, and experiential learning opportunities.<\/p>\n

…
\nThe online J.D. was subject to intense scrutiny and review by legal education experts before the College was granted the variance. Students in the online program will be taught by College of Law faculty, will be held to the same high admission and academic standards as students in the College’s residential program, and will take all courses required by its residential J.D. program.<\/p>\n

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