The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/96072
case studies Make Prototypes, Not Papers In our class at Georgetown, we have students build technology systems, apps and automated tools to solve legal problems. Experience with programming languages is neither required nor expected. At the end of the semester, each team has gained experience planning, building and explaining what they have done. Through this process, students consider issues of market demands, client needs and sustainability of the solutions they build. A central goal in requiring students to build systems is for them to develop skills in working with technology. At the complex end, student groups work with some specific tools and systems to build their projects. We also require students to present the prototypes in the "Iron Tech Lawyer" competition at the end of the course. In Several apps with immense potential were built by Georgetown students, largely for people who cannot afford lawyers. the competition, students have to deal with an important skill: live use of technology in a timed presentation. Each team has to defend their projects in front of a panel of judges. Students are judged on presentation skills, application design and overall effectiveness. Expert Systems: Expertise First, Execution Later Legal expert systems have the potential to simplify legal problems through a process of breaking down complex rules into smaller components. An early model for expert systems was developed and described by Richard Susskind in his dissertation "Expert Systems in Law." The system he helped develop dealt with a complex legal regimen in England that was relatively rule-based. As is obvious from the name of these systems, they require a subject-matter expert to input substance to be worth anything. At Georgetown, many of our students have worked with an expert system platform called Neota Logic. This is a sophisticated platform that supports branched logic, weighted analysis and 28 Peer to Peer customized, input-specific report output. There's a bit of a learning curve to working with the authoring tools, and our students wanted to jump in early to learn all the product features. Initial thinking was learn the software first, and then apply the legal logic later. Early on, we advised students that it's far more important to understand the logic of a legal regimen than it is to understand the development tools. By the end of the semester, students working with these tools appreciated the approach that expertise and logic come first, with the execution of these rules to follow. Along the way, their lawyering skills proved critical to creating meaningful systems. Expert systems like those from Neota Logic can include fact-specific reports, where user answers to system questions help generate a customized report. This requires students to draft multiple avenues of analysis. Professor David Johnson at New York Law School likens this to a process of writing 100 different legal memos. Here again, having legal expertise is a critical component, where an algorithm isn't likely to replace an attorney. Ongoing Initiatives for Innovation in the Academy For a broad view of law school efforts to improve student learning through technology, look for the free e-book: "Educating the Digital Lawyer," edited by Oliver Goodenough and Marc Lauritsen. Within this, there's a summary from Brock Rutter describing several existing law school courses that apply technology. This book covers additional topics, including recommendations for which digital skills practitioners should have, as well as a host of other topics relevant to law schools, lawyer learning and today's needs for technical application. One early pioneer to innovate with technology is Professor Ron Staudt from the Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology. As Professor Staudt describes, we've been on the verge of a revolution for a few decades. He currently teaches a technology law practicum that combines classroom learning with applied law school clinic projects. In this practicum, students develop technology and justice skills, building useful Web resources to improve access to justice resources. Additional courses include: • Digital Drafting taught by Oliver Goodenough at Vermont Law School. This course focuses on the evolution of law practice technologies, including their impact on a broad view of legal drafting. Students develop programming and automated drafting skills, work with expert systems, and look at ways that law practice is transformed in an online environment. • Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic offered at Columbia Law School, where students get hands-on experience using technologies that are reshaping the legal profession. As an example, clinic students, working with the New York City