Law schools take a lot of heat for not preparing students for the actual practice of law. They are rightly criticized for ignoring how technology and innovation are changing the profession. This failure is particularly acute when it comes to generative AI. Some law schools have engaged in a lot of handwringing and schemed how to keep students from using Gen AI tools. Others have just put their heads in the sand. But a handful of law schools have been proactive, recognizing how Gen AI may change how lawyers practice and work.

One such school is Vanderbilt University’s Law School. Nestled a short walk from Nashville’s bustling downtown, Vanderbilt’s Law School created its Program of Law and Innovation several years ago. It was the brainchild of Cat Moon and Larry Bridgesmith. The idea was to create a learning space within the law school for innovation and collaboration. Continue Reading Embracing Gen AI in Law: Vanderbilt Law School’s VAILL is Preparing Tomorrow’s Legal Minds

There’s little doubt that In today’s rapidly evolving legal landscape, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into legal is poised to change the way lawyers operate. Clio’s unveiling of Clio Duo, a multifaceted AI tool designed to assist legal professionals, raises some interesting questions about the future of the legal profession, what constitutes success and how being a good lawyer is defined.

Clio CEO Jack Newton introduced Clio Duo today at ClioCon. According to the press release, Clio Duo will serve as a coach, intuitive collaborator, and expert consultant to legal professionals. Clio claims that Duo will enable customers to unlock their own data, become more effective business owners, and get better outcomes for clients. The video of the tool unveiled at the keynote showed a person asking Duo about the status of bills and cases, to summarize documents and for help getting ready for client meetings. Like so many vendor introductions in this arena, the Clio GenAI tool is a promise, not a reality today. But that’s perhaps to be expected, given how quickly the area is being developed.Continue Reading Clio’s New AI Tools: Transforming Legal Practice and Redefining Legal Success?

I spent this week at the ABA TechShow, which is put on by the Law Practice Division of which I am current Chair. The Show was a rousing success.

Lots of hoopla about new artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, generative AI, neural networks, and large language models. Pablo Arredondo, CEO of Casetext, and I presented on the topic. Well, Pablo presented; I just tried to stay out of the way. Pablo is one of the few people who can talk about these tools in a way that even I can understand it. Continue Reading AI, Generative AI, ChatGPT, Robot Lawyers: Why Should I Care? Are Robots Going to Replace Us ?

I recently wrote and published a piece on my blog about the LexisNexis Product Navigator, an analytical program I thought was very impressive.

After I published that post, I learned more about the team at LexisNexis that put it together. The product was designed and built by the User Experience (UX) Group at LexisNexis and Michael Oberle, a Senior UX Designer II, along with the Product and Development Team. The UX team \includes UX Designers, UX researchers, and Visual and Product Designers.

Michael and I exchanged several messages about the product, which was his first while with LexisNexis. According to Oberle, the UX team, “used elements from Design Thinking, Design Sprints, Lean Business Canvas, SVPG training to make a new product in a new way. We started with subject matter experts that had experience in the industry and kept testing and refining with our potential users. In one stage, we let the users design their own dashboard. We continually refined the top tasks and the jobs to be done.”Continue Reading Meet the Team Behind Product Liability Navigator

So, as promised in my general post about Legalweek last week, here are my thoughts about the three most innovative and relevant products I saw at this year’s Conference (plus one).

As I said before, none of the three is groundbreaking in and of themselves. None will change the way we fundamentally practice. But taken together and added to any number of other products that are designed to address particular pain points, they collectively move the needle in various ways from efficiency to life balance. This is what good product developers do: they find a problem and try to solve it. Forget saving the world.
Continue Reading New and Hot At Legalweek? Zero. Windtalker. LoopUp. And Casepoint

Sometime ago, I read an article about a former biglaw litigator, Kathleen Dooley, who left biglaw to go in-house for Hu-manity.co. Hu-manity.co is dedicated to enabling individuals to claim legal ownership of their inherent human data as property (i.e., doing good for the world).

Since I, too, was a former biglaw litigator who recently left for something else, I reached out to her to see what prompted her to make the change and how she went about it. I found her to be a fascinating person who gave her change process a lot of thought. Here is my interview of her in which she candidly talks about her change, what she’s doing now and the state of women in law. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did doing it.Continue Reading Kathleen Dooley: Her Journey From BigLaw to Doing Good and More

“They can’t take it from me, if they try, I lived though those early days.

Early Days by Paul McCartney

I constantly marvel at the technology we have today. I am a tech and innovation evangelist. I believe the delivery of legal services can and will be improved and disrupted. I can’t wait.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t sometimes reflect back to the way things were when I first began as a lawyer. Some things were worse. Some things were better. Some were just, well, different. And I wonder how much the technological tools we have and the innovation that’s out there have truly created the positive changes of which they are capable
Continue Reading #legaltech #innovation: Changes for the Better?