Since I was old enough to read, I have been somewhat infatuated with Roman history and mythology. One of my favorite figures from this ancient pantheon is Janus, the two-faced god of beginnings and endings. He was depicted always looking forward and backward. In addition to the past and the future, he was believed to be the deity of duality.
In honor of Janus, this round-up offers both a look ahead and a look back on legal technology, vendors and processes old and new.
Helping law firm librarians keep pace with technology
As I strive to stay in-the-know and keep my Research & Intelligence Services team current at LAC Group, I’m happy to share my findings. Ron Friedmann is also willing to share, this time with an excellent overview of his recommended resources for knowledge management, legal technology and artificial intelligence.
Keeping Up with KM, AI, and Legal Tech – Recommended Sources
Integration of Ravel and Lexis
The assimilation is complete and the roll-out has begun. Following its acquisition, Ravel’s mark on Lexis is becoming apparent. As Bob Ambrogi reports,
“The name given to this new tool within Lexis Advance is Ravel View. It looks and functions very much like Ravel did as a standalone platform, but with one significant difference—the Ravel visualizations now include Shepard’s citation information.”
It looks impressive, but don’t take my word for it; read Rob’s review:
Lexis Advance Will Now Fully Integrate Ravel Visualizations In Search Results
More ways to be a tech-savvy librarian
From Ellyssa Kroski, NYLI’s Director of Information Technology, three strategies for anyone looking to make their tech presence known:
- Brainstorm, organize your thoughts and communicate your ideas by using tools like Coggle and Storyboard That.
- Host an augmented-reality event using technology like Aurasma (now HP Reveal) and Google Cardboard.
- Make an “app for that” with tools like Appy Pie, which claims you can create an app in three easy steps.
Learn more about the latest ways to effectively communicate your ideas:
3 Tech-Savvy Ways Law Librarians Can Shake Up the Status Quo
This legal tech company is a technology pioneer
61 early-stage companies have been recognized as 2018 Technology Pioneers by The World Economic Forum for potentially world-changing innovations, including cutting-edge applications such as:
- Augmented reality: US-based CognitiveScale and UK-based Blue Vision
- Autonomous vehicles: Switzerland’s Bestmile and Israel’s Innoviz Technologies
- Health and genetics: Sweden’s 1928 Diagnostics and US-based Color Genomics
One legal technology company was included in this esteemed group: Casetext.
While Robert Ambrogi says “just one from legal” made the list, some of us who have been around for a while might say it’s quite an accomplishment, since the legal industry has lagged other industries when it comes to technology adoption and innovation.
World Economic Forum’s List of ‘Technology Pioneers’ Includes Just One from Legal
The latest from legal research information providers
To say that we live in “technologically intriguing” times is an understatement. With artificial intelligence, electronic snooping, and even hacking turning fiction into reality, we live in a world and work in an industry that is becoming one-part Clancy and two-parts Orwell.
- Thomson Reuters launches Westlaw Edge—Three takes on Westlaw’s advanced analytics and AI by Bob Ambrogi, Jean O’Grady and Legaltech News, compiled on one page.
- Bloomberg BNA transforming news publishing into real-time news delivery portals—Content curation doesn’t make the cut.
- Surveillance and Legal Research Providers: What You Need to Know —TR and RELX are expanding into big data surveillance products, with librarian ramifications. First, this new business model means law products and the law libraries that buy them may no longer be their top priority. Second, how can librarians continue to uphold privacy and ethics when some of their biggest research resources are surveilling private citizens?
- Fastcase vs. Casemaker—Can Casemaker claim copyrights to Georgia’s administrative rules and regulations? The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta will hear oral arguments on August 17, 2018.
Still talking about enterprise search
Yes, enterprise search has been around for a while, but as anyone involved in search will tell you, “search is still not solved.” That doesn’t mean vast improvements haven’t occurred, nor that search is not important. In fact, search remains centrally important to successful KM initiatives.
Get the latest on enterprise search tools:
Enterprise Search—a 2018 Round-Up
Jumping ahead to 2030
Legal industry analyst and author Ari Kaplan interviewed Luminance CEO Emily Foges. Luminance is an AI and machine learning platform for contracts. When Ari asked about the impact that machine learning and artificial technology will have on lawyers, Ms. Foges replied:
“I think it’s a very bright future. It’s a future where lawyers will be back doing this meaningful work that they studied for.”
Read the AI-generated interview transcript:
Presiding over passages and transitions, perhaps Janus will be relevant again as we maneuver through modern passages and transitions, as we are certain to encounter many other new beginnings and endings in legal research and information services.
John DiGilio
Latest posts by John DiGilio (see all)
- Librarian link in legal knowledge supply chain - December 9, 2019
- The ethics of competitive intelligence - September 23, 2019
- LAC employee spotlight: Chris McKee - September 9, 2019
