Practice Technology

Prepaid legal services provider LegalShield adapts by ‘adding a layer of technology’

Ari Kaplan spoke with Keri Norris, the senior vice president for regulatory affairs and a chief legal officer at LegalShield, a provider of prepaid legal services.

Jun 23, 2017 12:44 PM CDT

Workplace management software company iManage buys AI company RAVN

Workplace management software company iManage has acquired U.K.-based artificial intelligence company RAVN Systems. The companies announced the deal last month. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to the press release (PDF), iManage plans on integrating RAVN’s artificially intelligent platform, which is capable of combing through massive amounts of…

Jun 22, 2017 11:30 AM CDT

Lex Machina marks timely addition of commercial case analytics

Law analytics platform Lex Machina has expanded its coverage to include commercial litigation. On Tuesday, the company announced that it has added more than 62,000 commercial cases filed since 2009, many in the realm of federal contract claims and business torts. The commercial module will allow users to forecast how much time it would take for a commercial case to be resolved, said Lex Machina general counsel Owen Byrd, as well as project the kinds of damages a user might be facing.

Jun 20, 2017 4:00 PM CDT

Attacks on secret informants spur federal courts to consider limiting PACER access

The federal judiciary is considering blocking public online access to criminal court records on PACER to prevent inmates from learning information about confidential informants.

The idea is one of several under consideration as the U.S. Judicial Conference considers the impact of disclosure, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports.

Jun 20, 2017 12:05 PM CDT

Legal tech startup devoted to corporate legal services raises $10.5M

A new legal technology company that intends to “transform the delivery of corporate legal services” has raised $10.5 million in initial funding.

Jun 20, 2017 7:00 AM CDT

Judicata adds color to case law, highlights artificial-intelligence barriers

When doing legal research, most lawyers first must figure out what cases are relevant and which precedents judges still enforce.

Jun 15, 2017 4:37 PM CDT

Ask Daliah: Four steps to making social media work for you

Dear Daliah: How do you use social media to market your law firm?

Dear Readers: I use social media on a daily basis to learn about recent legal trends, build my network, stay connected with existing clients and attract new ones. If you haven’t already leveraged the power of social media, you should start today.

Jun 15, 2017 8:15 AM CDT

Trade-secret claims hide details of technology that sends criminal defendants to jail

Criminal defendants are unable to challenge software used to send them to jail because makers of the for-profit technology claim their systems are a trade secret protected from disclosure. When information about computer codes and how the technology works is hidden from criminal defendants, the justice system is less fair,…

Jun 14, 2017 7:00 AM CDT

Tyler Technologies acquires online dispute resolution company Modria

Online dispute resolution company Modria has been acquired by Tyler Technologies. In a post published Monday by Bob Ambrogi of LawSites, the two companies announced their union at the end of May. Modria, which was co-founded in 2011 by Colin Rule, the designer of eBay’s automated online dispute resolution program,…

Jun 12, 2017 3:25 PM CDT

LexisNexis acquires case analytics firm Ravel Law

LexisNexis Legal & Professional has acquired legal research and litigation analytics firm Ravel Law, and will integrate Ravel's data visualization and profiling technology into LexisNexis services.

“Ravel Law will accelerate our vision of the data-driven lawyer of the future,” says Jeff Pfeifer, vice president of LexisNexis product management, in an interview after Thursday’s announcement. “By leveraging these platforms, an attorney can get insights about a variety of problems, from judicial tendencies to arguments that are effective in a judge’s chambers.”

Jun 8, 2017 2:49 PM CDT

New report finds corporate legal departments are awash in work and concerned about costs

Updated: Corporate legal departments are busier than ever, which has led to an increase in work for in-house attorneys and outside counsel, according to a new study released Tuesday from the Thomson Reuters Legal Tracker LDO Index. The semi-annual study, which is compiled from anonymous data from over 1,000 legal…

Jun 7, 2017 3:28 PM CDT

Legal startup grades lawyers on DUI case success

A Florida criminal defense lawyer and computer programmer has created a website that identifies lawyers who get the best results in cases involving those driving under the influence.

Jun 7, 2017 7:00 AM CDT

Videos guide lawyers through federal civil procedure

Learning federal civil procedure can be a tough slog. The author of an online legal-practice guide helps lawyers research the subject with a series of online videos. The Wagstaffe Group Practice Guide: Federal Civil Procedure Before Trial is available in three loose-leaf volumes from Matthew Bender. Subscribers to the Lexis…

Jun 6, 2017 1:15 PM CDT

Do police need warrant for cellphone location records? Supreme Court will decide

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether police need to obtain a search warrant to obtain past location data for a suspect’s cellphone. The American Civil Liberties Union asked the Supreme Court to hear the case on behalf of its client, Timothy Carpenter, a convicted armed robber.…

Jun 5, 2017 10:40 AM CDT

Moving from Good Law to Great Law

Five years ago, a committed group of law firm leaders and law firm service providers embarked on a journey to reimagine the legal profession with a futurist’s view.

While many innovation journeys begin with an examination of the current state of a business, team, product or service in order to determine how to make what exists better, this innovation journey was different.

Jun 1, 2017 8:12 AM CDT