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AI in the Law Firm: The Ethics of Who’s Running the Show

We’ve had a great response to an Above the Law op-ed here that outlined the kinds of skills lawyers will need as artificial intelligence increases its foothold in law firms. The piece makes clear that without the right kinds of skills, many…
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The Weinstein Saga: Now Featuring Lying Investigators, Duplicitous Journalists, Sloppy Lawyers

Decent investigators and journalists everywhere ought to have been outraged at news over the weekend in the Wall Street Journal that appears to have caught a corporate investigator masquerading as a Journal reporter. According to the story,…
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Unbundling: It Makes Sense for Non-Lawyers Too

Just back from the ABA’s family law conference where I gave a talk on asset searching, I heard a wonderful talk from the “father of unbundling” of legal services, Forrest “Woody” Mosten. He is a high priced divorce lawyer practicing…
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Artificial Intelligence in Law: The Challenge of the Unlimited-Document Universe

Anyone following artificial intelligence in law knows that its first great cost saving has been in the area of document discovery. Machines can sort through duplicates so that associates don’t have to read the same document seven times, and…
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Artificial Intelligence at Law Firms: The New Standard for “Smart” Lawyers

By now, if a lawyer isn’t thinking hard about how automation is going transform the business of law, that lawyer is a laggard. You see the way computers upended the taxi, hotel, book and shopping mall businesses? It’s already started in…
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The Cosby Trial’s Lesson: Evidence is Good, Admissible Evidence is Better

One lawyer we know has a stock answer when clients ask him how good their case is: “I don’t know. The courts are the most lawless place in America.” What he means is that even though the law is supposed to foster predictability so that…
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EB-5 Visa Due Diligence: How to Spot the Warning Signs of Fraud

Another EB-5 visa fraud, more burned investors. For people outside the United States trying to pick a reputable investment that will get them permanent residency in the U.S., sorting through hundreds of projects is often the hardest part of…
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3 Ways to Improve Law Firm Innovation

Lawyers need to find witnesses. They look for assets to see if it’s worth suing or if they can collect after they win. They want to profile opponents for weaknesses based on past litigation or business dealings. Every legal matter turns on…
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Is Your Law Firm Creative Enough? If Yes, Guess Again

We don’t usually think of the law as the place our most creative people go. Lawyers with a creative bent often drift into business, where a higher risk tolerance is often required to make a success of yourself. Some of our greatest writers…
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A Manual for How to Blow Your Due Diligence

Step one: don’t have a manual. That’s the message in an information-packed new book about the inner workings of the SEC just after the Madoff and now largely forgotten (but just as egregious) Allen Stanford frauds. In his memoir of five…