Legal Technology

AI in legal reasoning

By Sean Doherty
The Legal Technology Blog

I frequently play chess with other individuals as well as robots on my computer and on the Internet. Robots can be particularly challenging for their ability to recall successful moves and gambits in previous, relevant play. Now, if I take my chess hobby as a lesson, I think it will be difficult to go up against an artifical intelligence in legal reasoning in court. But like chess, it would be a challenge I would look forward to in the future.

I wish I had a nickel …

By Sean Doherty
The Legal Technology Blog

… for every pundit who trashed Microsoft Windows Vista without actually trying it. Granted, it took me a while to install it, and the multitudes of bug fixes, and the support pack. But once that was all done on my Lenovo Thinkpad T-43 (Intel Pentium M 1.86 GHz) with 2 GB RAM, the OS was stable and it handled the transition of my applications from XP without any incidents to write home about.

I was a bit miffed that it, like the gopher in my front yard, seemed to expand to the real estate available (aka disk). And, that the eye candy made me a bit nauseous. But once I gave Vista a more “XP classic” configuration, I was more at home with it.

Now I have to punt on third down. The laptop is necessary for a software review that does not support Vista. Oh well. Next up: Windows 7.

Avvocating: The Intersection of Business and Law

By Mark S. Britton
Special to the Legal Technology Blog

Before I get started, let me thank Law.com's Legal Technology section for establishing this regular “Avvocating” column for the Legal Technology Blog. “Avvocating” will appear here every two weeks to focus on that critical (but often ignored) intersection of law and business. We plan to cover topics on marketing, technology, organizational management, social networking, etc.

At Avvo, we have a number of experienced lawyers, and even a few hotshot MBAs, who spend every day thinking about how lawyers run their businesses. Our intention is to put those sophisticated voices in front of you every fortnight to see if we can’t take some of what is in our heads and put into yours. If you would ever like us to address a particular subject, please post a comment and we will do our best. OK, now on with the show!

Taking the "go" out of "go to meeting"

When I was a resident of New York, I could often appear in a California court using CourtCall. Not exactly the most ideal appearance, but it did save travel expenses and/or outside counsel fees to have someone appear on my behalf. On those calls, I would think of how easy it is to video chat with friends around the world, yet I can’t use a videoconference link for a court appearance. Well, one day that remote court appearance might be as easy as using the phone with Courtroom Connect.

Courtroom Connect’s Remote Counsel Network is a network of hundreds of public videoconference rooms worldwide that are available at deposition suites, arbitration facilities, and law schools for legal recruiting. The rooms are used to go to a hearing, deposition, arbitration, or interview, without really going there. Remote Counsel Network is unveiling a Web site to give users the ability to search for available videoconferencing rooms based on location, Internet protocols, and the availability of hi-definition equipment. Check them out at Legal Tech New York at Booth 2014.

HP Information Governance Round Table

Last Friday I attended an event on the best practices and challenges of information governance sponsored by Hewlett Packard. It featured a round table circled by industry experts. Randolph A. Kahn, Esq., of Kahn Consulting, moderated the discussion with: Sue Derison, director of information systems at Forsyth County, Georgia, School System; Mark Saussure, director of Information Technology Services at Penn State University; and Martin Loeber, vice president of litigation and general counsel at Valero.

On the challenges, the panel identified the deluge of information (Mr. Saussure) and how to use information and records to create efficiencies for clients and constituents (Ms. Derison). Of particular interest for this blog was Mr. Loeber’s observations. He identified the risk of not retaining documents that should be preserved for litigation as a primary concern and, of late, the challenge to minimize the amount of information delivered to outside counsel in e-discovery -- thus reducing litigation costs.

To meet the information challenges and mitigate identified risks, Valero's best practice includes a documented and well-implemented retention policy and an investment in HP’s Integrated Archive Platform and Clearwell Systems technology. The IAP aims to manage structured and unstructured data so that Valero can know what it has and know what it does not have, quickly. With Clearwell’s technology, Valero aims to reduce the amount of data sent to outside counsel for review using Clearwell’s early-case assessment, deduplication, and review tools. With the HP-Clearwell combination, Loeber advised the audience to be “as proactive as you can to reduce reactivity.”

All told, it is good to hear what people are doing to meet the challenges of information governance. When you can't attend conferences to dialogue with peers, keep an eye out for live webinars like this, or perhaps their archive. At the very least, you might learn something knew -- like XAM.

Technology is a great enabler for a small law firm

I recently had the privilege of meeting Nishith Desai and Vaibhav Parikh of Nishith Desai Associates, a prominent law firm based in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, Singapore and Silicon Valley.  It was the winner of the International Financial Law Review's 2001 Indian Law Firm of the Year award and its 2002 Asian Law Firm of the Year (Pro-bono) award.  His firm follows the Ghandi/Hendy model of democratic management and its website notes --

We aspire to build a community of high caliber and ethical individuals by adopting the trusteeship principles espoused by Mahatma Gandhi and Charles Handy.

I recorded an interview with Nishith, which I will post next week before LegalTech New York, but wanted to share some of his comments because they are the hallmarks of his firm's growth and success, which could help navigate today's challenging economic environment:

• Use a blue ocean strategy, i.e., go into spaces where others are not focused.
• An open, transparent and democratic system is difficult to implement in the beginning, but is more successful over time.
• Give your employees the freedom to think, act and earn.
• You have to cut your clothes according to your size.
• We do not believe in head count, we believe in brain count.
• Many companies get dressed up to go nowhere.
• Treat your client as a partner, not just a customer.
• Technology is a great enabler for a small law firm.
• Mentoring relates to management, as well as cultural and ethical issues.

Ari L. Kaplan, Esq.
www.arikaplanadvisors.com
(646) 641-0600

Author of "The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development" (Thomson-West, 2008). Learn more at  TheOpportunityMaker.com.

Autonomy announces agreement to acquire Interwoven

The post title speaks for itself. The combination of Autonomy's IDOL technology, meaning-based content analysis, with Interwoven's content management solutions will enable customers to move unmanaged content to a more manageable state for governance, regulatory, and compliance purposes and implement policies to enterprise-wide content. This gambit will ultimately reduce e-discovery costs and facilitate early-case assessment to litigate, or not litigate.

The acquisition is expected to complete in the second quarter of 2009 and is subject to Autonomy and Interwoven shareholder and regulatory approvals.

Avoid inflicting “death by powerpoint”

A free course sponsored by Working Smarter and authored by Rick Altman, author of “Why Most PowerPoints SUCK – And How you Can Make Them Better,” aims to show presenters how to use PowerPoint wisely (which sometimes may mean not at all) to capture an audience's attention, help them remember what was presented, and create a strong bond between presenter and audience.

This course is delivered via e-mail in six short 20-minute segments to those who register at www.smartdraw.com/ecourse-altman/signup.htm. The course series includes:

1.   The Pain: Too Much Too Easy--many people "learn" how to use PowerPoint in less than 30 minutes, but that's not always a good thing. Control is key.
2.   The Pain: Misguided Messaging--some presenters unwittingly turn the audience against them with their first few sentences. There is a better way.
3.   The Pain: Stuck Inside the Slide--don't rely on the slide to spur creative ideas. Sometimes you shouldn't rely on PowerPoint at all.
4.   The Solution: Surviving Bullets--slide wordiness is a silent presentation killer. Less is most definitely more.
5.   The Solution: Thriving with Animation--using animation wisely and appropriately helps your audience get it, while keeping you on track.
6.   The Solution: Working Smarter, Presenting Better--flexibility and some PowerPoint navigation tips and tricks can literally save your presentation.

Santa Clara Law gets a second life for recruiting

Recruiting with avatars, Santa Clara University Law School will host its first virtual-world law school application workshop in Second Life on “Santa Clara Island.”

The SCU Law event will be held on Thursday, January 22, from 6 to 8 p.m. It invites prospective students to learn about applying to the law school in a virtual world where avatar “Penny Canucci,” aka SCU Law School Dean of Admissions Jeanette Leach, will play host to prospective applicants.

Island visitors will also be able to view a video welcome from Santa Clara Law Dean Donald Polden posing as, well, himself. Obviously, some personas have no need for avatars.

After Dean Leach’s workshop, participants can ask the admissions office staff questions and gather information about applying to Santa Clara Law.

LinkedIn faster to address user needs than Facebook

LinkedIn has been observed to move more rapidly to address enterprise social computing needs than Facebook, according to CMS Watch, an independent analyst firm.

CMS Watch’s 510-page Enterprise Social Software & Collaboration Report 2009, evaluates twenty-six social computing platforms using eleven potential enterprise use-cases. Vendors reviewed include IBM, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, Jive, Telligent, Awareness, Drupal, SocialText, Lithium, Ning, Facebook, and LinkedIn. LinkedIn outperformed Facebook in CMS Watch's "Professional Networking" and "Community of Practice" use-cases. The report also found that from a functional standpoint, LinkedIn surpasses Facebook in Information Filtering and Discussion -- although neither platform provides the broader Blog, Wiki, and Project Tracking services that support broader enterprise collaboration.

The report notes that, with LinkedIn

• Enterprises can use groups as internal and external discussion boards and link-sharing areas. Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn participants can be pre-authorized by e-mail domain, they can keep track of discussions through notifications, and they can search group content;
• LinkedIn controls the release of applications by “approving them” professional use; unlike Facebook, which allows any developer to post applications; and
• LinkedIn is perceived as more professional by members.

The Enterprise Social Software & Collaboration Report 2009 is available for purchase online from CMS Watch.