Judge MacKenzie in Trouble Again, Urged Inmate to Drop Lawsuit

Award-winning Judge Brian MacKenzie, of Novi, Michigan (a Detroit suburb) is back in the news again, and just like last time, it's because of misconduct allegations. When we last caught up with Judge MacKenzie, he had just lost control over...



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Changing Fonts, and Other Money Saving Tips for Small Firms

Did you know that Hewlett-Packard printer ink can cost you upwards of $75/ounce? Compare that to Chanel N°5 that costs $38/ounce and that's some expensive ink. And, what exactly does this have to do with you and how you run...



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Surden: Machine Learning and Law

Professor Harry Surden of the University of Colorado has published Machine Learning and Law , Washington Law Review , 89, 87-115 (2014).

Here is the abstract:

This Article explores the application of machine learning techniques within the practice of law. Broadly speaking “machine learning” refers to computer algorithms that have the ability to “learn” or improve in performance over time on some task. In general, machine learning algorithms are designed to detect patterns in data and then apply these patterns going forward to new data in order to automate particular tasks. Outside of law, machine learning techniques have been successfully applied to automate tasks that were once thought to necessitate human intelligence — for example language translation, fraud-detection, driving automobiles, facial recognition, and data-mining. If performing well, machine learning algorithms can produce automated results that approximate those that would have been made by a similarly situated person.

This Article begins by explaining some basic principles underlying machine learning methods, in a manner accessible to non-technical audiences. The second part explores a broader puzzle: legal practice is thought to require advanced cognitive abilities, but such higher-order cognition remains outside the capability of current machine-learning technology. This part identifies a core principle: how certain tasks that are normally thought to require human intelligence can sometimes be automated through the use of non-intelligent computational techniques that employ heuristics or proxies (e.g., statistical correlations) capable of producing useful, “intelligent” results. The third part applies this principle to the practice of law, discussing machine-learning automation in the context of certain legal tasks currently performed by attorneys: including predicting the outcomes of legal cases, finding hidden relationships in legal documents and data, and the automated organization of documents.

HT Harry Surden

Filed under: Applications, Articles and papers, Methodology, Technology developments Tagged: Big data and law, Big data and legal information systems, ediscovery, Electronic discovery, Harry Surden, Legal big data, Legal data analysis, Legal data processing, Legal evidence information systems, Legal information organization, Legal machine learning, Legal natural language processing, Legal prediction, Legal text analysis, Legal text processing, Machine learning and ediscovery, Machine learning and law, Machine learning and legal data analysis, Machine learning and legal prediction, Machine learning and legal text analysis, Machine learning and legal text processing, Machine learning and quantitative legal prediction, Natural language processing and law, Organization of legal information, Quantitative legal prediction, Statistical methods in legal informatics, Statistical methods in legal text processing, Washington Law Review



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Legal project at Voting Information Project San Francisco Hackathon

At least one law-related project was worked on at the Voting Information Project San Francisco Hackathon , held held 28-29 March 2014: PollVault + VIP .

Here is a description of the project:

PollVault is the free central repository for all voter guides and election endorsements nationwide.

In an effort to host the broadest set of ballot data possible for voters and advocacy groups to use in crafting endorsements, we are partnering with the VIP to consume their feed as a supplement to our data set.

In addition, we aim to crowdsource ballot data which we will contribute back to the VIP [Voting Information Project] for validation. [...]

If you know of other law-related projects worked on at the event, please feel free to identify them in the comments to this post.

HT @marcidale

Filed under: Applications, Data sets, Hackathons, Hacking, Projects, Technology developments Tagged: Ballot initiative data, Ballot initiative information, Ballot initiative information systems, Citizens' participation in lawmaking, Crowdsourcing ballot data, Crowdsourcing ballot initiative data, Crowdsourcing election data, Crowdsourcing referendum data, Direct democracy, Direct democracy data, Direct democracy information systems, Direct democracy legal information systems, Legal crowdsourcing, PollVault, PollVault + VIP, Referendum data, Referendum information, Referendum information systems, Voting Information Project, Voting Information Project San Francisco Hackathons



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Palmirani: CIRSFID and legal informatics

Professor Dr. Monica Palmirani of the University of Bologna has published The CIRSFID and legal informatics, in Ginevra Peruginelli and Mario Ragona (Eds.), Legal informatics in Italy: Fifty years of studies, research and experiences (Naples, Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 2014).

Here is the abstract:

The chapter outlines the birth and development of legal informatics at the University of Bologna, and consequently also the various phases of the evolution of CIRSFID, which has taken on a role as promoter of this discipline at local, national, and international level. The account is based on two historical sources: (i) archival records held at the University of Bologna, which document the birth of this research centre, offering a snapshot of the initiatives launched by the centre itself in the effort to make a place for legal informatics as a university discipline, and (ii) numerous interviews with the founder of CIRSFID, Prof. Enrico Pattaro, and with Prof. Giovanni Sartor as sources of oral history on which to rely in rounding out the narrative where the records are incomplete. After this historical account, the contribution shifts focus to the present, outlining the method, characteristics, and activities of legal informatics in Bologna, such as its cross-disciplinary and international emphasis and its stress on the practical application of theoretical investigation. Finally, the contribution turns to the future of legal informatics as a discipline that proceeds on an analytical and philosophical approach to see how new technologies — the ones now in use as well as those in development — can be put to use so as to fully exploit their potential consistently with the legal and ethical principles by which that use is framed.

Filed under: Applications, Articles and papers, Chapters, History, Methodology, Technology developments Tagged: Applied legal informatics, Applied legal informatics research, CIRSFID, Cross-disciplinary legal informatics research, Enrico Pattaro, Giovanni Sartor, History of legal informatics, History of legal informatics in Italy, International legal informatics research, Legal informatics, Legal informatics in Italy, Legal informatics in Italy: Fifty years of studies research and experiences, Monica Palmirani, University of Bologna



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Kahvecioglu: Open Access to Turkish Primary Legal Information Resources

Kerem Kahvecioglu, M.A., of Istanbul Bilgi University has posted Open Access to Turkish Primary Legal Information Resources , at IALL.org .

The post covers “primary legal information resources namely legislation, the official gazette and case law,” as well as treaties.

Filed under: Applications, Data sets, Technology developments, Technology tools Tagged: Free access to law, IAAL.org, Kerem Kahvecioglu, Legal information resources in Turkey, Public access to legal information, Turkey



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LawWithoutWalls X Conposium, 29 March 2014: Storify, tweets, and resources

LawWithoutWalls X Conposium (LWOW X Conposium) was held online on 29 March 2014.

Click here for the schedule for the event.

The Twitter hashtag for the event seems to be: #lwow2014

Click here for a storify of Twitter tweets from the event.

Click here for archived Twitter tweets from the event in .csv format.

Here is background information about the event:

LawWithoutWalls is a part-virtual collaboratory devised and led by Michele DeStefano, that develops the skills necessary to provide effective legal services in today’s global, multi-disciplinary, and cross-cultural marketplace. It centers on the intersection of law, business, technology, and innovation. [...] LWOW X is an all-virtual pilot program for 2014. It offers the same components and benefits as the original LawWithoutWalls offering, only it does so completely on-line.[...].

Filed under: Conference reports, Storify, Technology developments, Technology tools, Tweet archives Tagged: #lwow2014, Innovation in law practice technology, Innovation in legal technology, Innovation in the delivery of legal services, Law practice technology, LawWithoutWalls, LawWithoutWalls Conposium, LawWithoutWalls X, LawWithoutWalls X Conposium, LawWithoutWalls X Conposium 2014, Legal instructional technology, Legal services delivery innovation, Legal technology innovation, LWOW, LWOW X, LWOWX, Michele DeStefano



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International Journal of Legal Information Design: New refereed legal informatics journal

International Journal of Legal Information Design is a new, refereed legal informatics journal, being published by Inderscience.

Here is a description from the journal’s Website:

IJLID is a multidisciplinary journal concerned with the audio, visual and audio-visual design of legal information. It seeks to promote and enhance discussion on (re)designing legal information by addressing both theoretical and practical issues. [...]

Topics covered:

Legal information (re)design and:

• communication studies, media studies


• history


• drama studies, (digital) storytelling


• e-government


• e-learning, education science


• iconography/iconology, semiotics


• visual communication, graphic design


• information/knowledge management


• typography, linguistics


• literary studies, narratology


• psychology, sociology


• philosophy


• counselling studies

and Any subjects that arise with any of the discipline combinations above [...]

Editor in Chief

Dorgham, M.A., International Centre for Technology and Management, UK

(editorial@inderscience.com)

Associate Editor

Schafer, Burkhard, Edinburgh University, UK

Editorial Board Members

Abou Zeid, El Sayed, Concordia University, Canada

Barshack, Lior, The Interdisciplinary Center, Israel

[...]

Douzinas, Costas, Birkbeck, University of London, UK

Goodrich, Peter, Yeshiva University, USA

Hibbitts, Bernard J., University of Pittsburgh, USA

Martin, Bill, RMIT University, Australia

McLellan, Hilary, McLellan Wyatt Digital, USA

Riedl, Reinhard, University of Applied Sciences Bern, Switzerland

Schmid Keeling, Regula, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Vismann, Cornelia, Max-Planck-Institut für europäische Rechtsgeschichte, Germany

Walker, Sue, University of Reading, UK

Wexler, David B., The University of Arizona, USA

Wong, Kuan Yew, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia [...]

All our articles are refereed through a double-blind process. [...]

Filed under: Journals Tagged: Burkhard Schafer, Design of legal documents, Design of legal information, International Journal of Legal Information Design, Legal design, Legal design journals, Legal document design, Legal informatics journals, Legal information design, Legal information design journals, Legal information system user interfaces, User interfaces of legal information systems, Visualization of legal information



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LawWithoutWalls X Conposium takes place online, 29 March 2014

The LawWithoutWalls X Conposium (LWOW X Conposium) will be held online on 29 March 2014.

Click here for the event program.

Click here for access to the online sessions.

At this event the students will present their projects.

The Twitter hashtags for the event seem to be #lwowx and #lwow2014

The Twitter account for the program is @LWOWX

Here is background information about the program:

LawWithoutWalls is a part-virtual collaboratory devised and led by Michele DeStefano, that develops the skills necessary to provide effective legal services in today’s global, multi-disciplinary, and cross-cultural marketplace. It centers on the intersection of law, business, technology, and innovation. [...] LWOW X is an all-virtual pilot program for 2014. It offers the same components and benefits as the original LawWithoutWalls offering, only it does so completely on-line.[...]

HT @erikaconcetta

Filed under: Applications, Conference Announcements, Technology developments Tagged: #lwow2014, Innovation in law practice technology, Innovation in legal technology, Innovation in the delivery of legal services, Law practice technology, LawWithoutWalls, LawWithoutWalls Conposium, LawWithoutWalls X, LawWithoutWalls X Conposium, LawWithoutWalls X Conposium 2014, Legal instructional technology, Legal services delivery innovation, Legal technology innovation, LWOW, LWOW X, LWOWX, Michele DeStefano



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Faro: Computational social science, law and legal informatics: Towards computational legal science

Dr. Sebastiano Faro of ITTIG/CNR has published Computational social science, law and legal informatics (towards computational legal science), in Ginevra Peruginelli and Mario Ragona (Eds.), Legal informatics in Italy: Fifty years of studies, research and experiences (Naples, Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 2014).

Here is the abstract:

Legal informatics has been developed on the basis of the idea that the world of law could not ignore the profound changes in society brought about by the development of computer science and, in more general terms,

of information and communication technologies; from this conviction the legal scholars’ interest in computing and new technologies was born as a set of tools, techniques, methodologies and approaches able to propose a new way of understanding and dealing with legal phenomena and also for supporting the activities of the lawyer. Among the possible future evolutions of legal informatics, this chapter emphasizes how this discipline, thanks to its method and interdisciplinary research program, can play a key role in mediating the encounter between law and the emerging research area called “computational social science”. This is an intersection between social sciences, informatics and the sciences of complexity, with which law will come inevitably into contact.

Filed under: Abstracts, Applications, Articles and papers, Chapters, Methodology Tagged: Computational legal science, Computational Legal Studies, Computational social science, Computational social science and law, Legal informatics in Italy: Fifty years of studies research and experiences, Sebastiano Faro



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Creating Compelling Litigation Graphics in PowerPoint Presentations

As the use of visual aids and technology during litigation increases, it's imperative that you keep up with presentation trends so that you can use all the tools available to you to persuade a jury. Increasingly, attorneys need to hone...



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Call for papers: ATGRC 2014: International Workshop: Advanced Technologies for Governance Risk and Compliance

A call for papers has been issued for ATGRC 2014: International Workshop: Advanced Technologies for Governance Risk and Compliance , to be held 2 September 2014 in Munich, Germany.

The submission deadline is 29 March 2014.

Here is the description:

Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Information Systems provide key functionalities – ranging from risk program management to regulatory monitoring and reporting – to different stakeholders within an enterprise. GRC is moving toward “a more integrated approach to ensure effective governance, manage risks and optimize performance while addressing compliance obligations throughout the enterprise” (OCEG GRC technology solution guide v2.1). New generation GRC Information Systems are expected to simplify and automate the consumption of Regulations, to create compliant business processes whose execution can be monitored using controls traceable back to the Regulations and to enable flexible Risk reporting over integrated data. State of the art Governance dashboards and user interfaces are key in increasing the adoption of this new generation of GRC information systems. Recent advances in Artificial Intelligence, in Databases and in Business Processes Modelling will take GRC to this next level. In particular, Semantic Technologies provide the required accuracy for formal Knowledge Representation and the flexibility for large data and process integration.

Hosted by the 25th International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications (DEXA 2014), the 1st International Workshop on Advanced Technologies for Governance Risk and Compliance is a forum bringing together researchers and practitioners working in GRC, semantic technologies and related areas. It is an opportunity to discuss current challenges and to assess state of the art technologies.

Papers are invited on the following topics:

• Business vocabularies, Regulatory vocabularies, GRC Vocabularies


• Regulatory ontologies, Risk ontologies, Enterprise Ontologies


• Semantic Web technologies applied to Enterprise Information Systems


• Rule-based systems


• Semantics-based data access and data integration


• Subject-Matter-Expert-Centric semantic systems


• Business friendly ontology editing and visualization


• Business friendly rule editing and visualization


• Machine assisted vocabulary and rules extraction


• Natural language processing for Ontology building/ population

HT John Lombard

Filed under: Applications, Calls for papers, Conference Announcements, Technology developments Tagged: ATGRC, ATGRC 2014, International Workshop: Advanced Technologies for Governance Risk and Compliance, John Lombard, Legal compliance information systems, Legal informatics conferences, Legal knowledge representation, Legal natural language processing, Legal ontologies, Legal ontology construction, Legal ontology development, Legal ontology editing, Legal ontology editors, Legal rule editing, Legal rule editors, Legal rule extraction, Legal semantic web, Legal text processing, Legislative information systems, Modeling legal rules, Modeling legislation, Modeling regulations, Natural language processing and law, Natural language processing and legal ontology construction, Regulatory information systems, Regulatory ontologies, Semantic Web and law, Visualization of legal information, Visualization of legal ontologies, Visualization of legal rules



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Peruginelli and Ragona: Legal informatics in Italy: Fifty years of studies, research, and experiences

Dr. Ginevra Peruginelli and Mario Ragona, both of ITTIG/CNR, have published a new article collection entitled Legal Informatics in Italy: Fifty years of studies, research and experiences (Naples, Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 2014) (ITTIG Series «Studi e documenti», n. 12).

Click here for abstracts in English and Italian.

Here is the publisher’s description:

In the national publishing scenario a book that reconstructs the history of legal informatics in Italy is lacking. Starting from this observation, a collectanea on the origin and evolution of legal informatics in Italy has been realised, combining the contributions of the main actors of this field of science.

The book collects the thoughts, experiences, projects by Italian leading experts who have worked actively in the development of this field, following the historical evolution of legal informatics.

Such discipline must be intended in the sense of legal informatics strictly speaking.

With the intent of offering a look beyond national borders, the work includes precious interviews to key persons who have dedicated their professional life to the study and application of legal informatics around the world, focusing on new challenges and opportunities that the relationship between law and information technology implies.

The volume concludes with a look to the future and prospects of the IG, focusing on new challenges and opportunities that ITTIG-CNR researchers have been underlined: in fact the story of legal informatics interweaves with the history of the Institute.

The volume is not intended as a manual, but as a source of reference for all those interested in this subject. The discussion of the various topics have mainly an historical perspective, without leaving out personal experience that the individual author wants to highlight. From this book the reader should not only draw the historical evolution of legal informatics in Italy, but also the spirit and the atmosphere existing among the actors of the discipline.

The publication is the commitment of the Institute of Theory and Techniques of Legal Information (ITTIG) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR).

Contributions of:

Tommaso Agnoloni, Maria Angela Biasiotti, Jon Bing, Rosa Maria Di Giorgi, Elena Candia, Manola Cherubini, Elio Fameli, Sebastiano Faro, Franco Fiandanese, Enrico Francesconi, Vittorio e Tommaso Edoardo Frosini, Luigi Lombardi Vallauri, Mario G. Losano, Cesare Maioli, Carlo Marchetti, Pietro Mercatali, Nicola Palazzolo, Monica Palmirani, Mario Panizza, Enrico Paradiso, Giovanni Pascuzzi, Ginevra Peruginelli, Marina Pietrangelo, Mario Ragona, Francesco Romano, Maria-Teresa Sagri, Giovanni Sartor, Giancarlo Taddei Elmi, Daniela Tiscornia, Fabrizio Turchi

Interviews with:

Mariya Badeva-Bright (Africa), Thomas R. Bruce (USA), Fernando Galindo (Spain), Graham Greenleaf (Australia), Maximilian Herberger (Germany), João Alberto de Oliveira Lima (Brazil), Yoshiharu Matsuura (Japan), Abdulhusein H. Paliwala (United Kingdom), Pascal Petitcollot (France), Daniel Poulin (Canada), Erich Schweighofer (Austria), Ping Zhang (China).

The index and abstract are available at:

http://ift.tt/1h1UMsf

Purchase:

http://ift.tt/1dyB7Fw

Dr. Peruginelli says that in September 2014 “the volume will be available in open access in the ITTIG website and in other institutional repositories.”

Filed under: Applications, Articles and papers, Chapters, History, Monographs, Technology developments, Technology tools Tagged: Abdulhusein H. Paliwala, Carlo Marchetti, Cesare Maioli, Collana ITTIG - serie "Studi e documenti", Daniel Poulin, Daniela Tiscornia, Elena Candia, Elio Fameli, Enrico Francesconi, Enrico Paradiso, Erich Schweighofer, Fabrizio Turchi, Fernando Galindo, Francesco Romano, Franco Fiandanese, Giancarlo Taddei Elmi, Ginevra Peruginelli, Giovanni Pascuzzi, Giovanni Sartor, Graham Greenleaf, History of legal informatics, ITTIG Series «Studi e documenti», ITTIG-CNR, João Alberto de Oliveira Lima, João Lima, Jon Bing, Legal informatics, Legal informatics in Italy, Legal knowledge representation, Luigi Lombardi Vallauri, Manola Cherubini, Maria Angela Biasiotti, Maria Teresa Sagri, Marina Pietrangelo, Mario G. Losano, Mario Panizza, Mario Ragona, Mariya Badeva-Bright, Maximilian Herberger, Monica Palmirani, Nicola Palazzolo, Pascal Petitcollot, Pietro Mercatali, Ping Zhang, Rosa Maria Di Giorgi, Sebastiano Faro, Thomas R. Bruce, Tom Bruce, Tommaso Agnoloni, Vittorio e Tommaso Edoardo Frosini, Yoshiharu Matsuura



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Blogging Judge is Back, and He Just Made a Lot of Women Angry

Around these parts there is a wonderfully talented and very pretty female lawyer who is in her late twenties. She is brilliant, she writes well, she speaks eloquently, she is zealous but not overly so, she is always prepared,...



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LexThink.1 2014: Event of lightning talks on legal innovation and technology: Storify, tweets, and resources

LexThink.1 2014, an event of lightning talks on law practice innovation and technology, was held on 26 March 2014, in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

The event was organized by Matthew Homann and JoAnna Forshee .

The conference program is at: http://ift.tt/1rC34Af

The Twitter hashtag for the event was #lexthink

Click here for a storify of Twitter tweets from the event.

Click here for archived Twitter tweets from the event in .csv format.

HT @rightbrainlaw

Filed under: Applications, Conference resources, Presentations, Storify, Technology developments, Technology tools, Tweet archives Tagged: #lexthink, Court technology, Innovation in delivery of legal services, Innovation in law practice, Innovation in legal technology, JoAnna Forshee, Judicial technology, Law practice innovation, Law practice technology, Legal informatics conferences, Legal services delivery innovation, Legal technology innovation, LexThink.1, LexThink.1 2014, Matt Homann, Matthew Homann



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Levine: Much legal data available through OpenPrism federated search tool for open data

Much legal data is available through Thomas Levine‘s OpenPrism federated search tool for open data repositories.

See, for example, the search results for:

• Law


• Legislation

HT @gletham

Filed under: Applications, Data sets, Technology developments, Technology tools Tagged: Legal open data, Legal open government data, Open legal data, Open legislative data, OpenPrism, Thomas Levine



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ParliamentICT: Prototypes of new legislative drafting software

Videos of three new legislative drafting software applications have been posted on the ParliamentICT channel:

• Legislative drafting application


• Wireframe of legislative drafting application


• Amending legislation application

The legislative drafting and wireframe application videos bear the name of Matt Lynch .

The amending application video bears the name of Graham Peek .

All of the videos bear the name of the Legislation Drafting, Amending, and Publishing Programme.

Graham Peek says that this software is being developed for the British Parliament, the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel (UK) [Richard Heaton], and The National Archives (UK) [in which John Sheridan, developer and administrator of Legislation.gov.uk, works], and in partnership with the Scottish Parliament, the Office of the Scottish Parliamentary Counsel, and the Council of Europe.

HT @grahampeek

Filed under: Applications, Software, Technology developments, Technology tools, Videos Tagged: (John Sheridan, Bill drafting software, British Parliament, Graham Peek, Legislative amending software, Legislative drafting software, Legislative editing software, Legislative editors, National Archives UK, Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, Office of the Scottish Parliamentary Counsel, ParliamentICT, Richard Heaton, Scottish Parliament



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Metadata, Falsified Discovery Requests Lead to 6 Month Suspension

It is stupid to falsify legal documents instead of admitting your mistake and requesting accommodations from opposing counsel. It's even more stupid to get caught due to electronic service of documents with metadata indicating the true date that the document...



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Hagan: Report on Legislative Design Roundtable, for OpenGov Foundation

Dr. Margaret Hagan of Stanford University has posted a report on a legislative design roundtable that she and Dr. Ron Dolin of the Program for Legal Tech and Design held for the OpenGov Foundation in early March 2014.

Here are excerpts from the post:

Two weeks ago, we were fortunate to host two members of the OpenGov Foundation team at the d.school, to discuss their projects to make legislators’ work more participatory, democratic, and better designed. [...]

The OpenGov team showed us their past versions of The Madison Project — a platform that allows legislators to post versions of pending & proposed legislation online, and then has constituents make annotations, reactions, redrafts, and other comments on top of the text.

The first version of this platform emerged during the SOPA/PIPA debate two years ago. The platform they coded then allowed people to read the proposed Internet legislation, and comment — to show legislators what citizens would want to change about the bill, as well as to educate citizens about what the legislation would do. [...]

The team also showed some hints of where they might be going — with the ability of commenters to engage with each other, and an ability to float the most meaningful comments & redrafts to prominence. [...]

The participants who came to the event gave feedback on the designs & the concepts — with ideas of how to increase user engagement on the site, along with ideas of other directions the platform could go regarding citizen education about lawmaking. [...]

For images and more details, please see the complete post.

HT @LegalTechDesign

Filed under: Applications, Technology developments, Technology tools, Workshop Tagged: Citizens' participation in bill drafting, Citizens' participation in lawmaking, Citizens' participation in legislative drafting, Citizens' participation in legislative process, eparticipation, eparticipation systems, Legal crowdsourcing, Legal crowdsourcing platforms, Legal crowdsourcing systems, Legal design workshops, Legislative information systems, MADISON, Madison Project, Margaret Hagan, OpenGov Foundation, Program for Legal Technology and Design, Ron Dolin, Seamus Kraft



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JURIX 2014 to be held 10-12 December in Kraków

JURIX 2014: International Conference on Legal Knowledge and Information Systems, is scheduled to be held 10-12 December 2014 at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, according to a post at the JURIX blog.

Dr. Rinke Hoekstra of the Leibniz Center for Law at the University of Amsterdam is the program chair for the conference.

The call for papers and submission deadlines have not been posted yet.

HT @jurixfoundation

Filed under: Conference Announcements Tagged: International Conference on Legal Knowledge and Information Systems, JURIX, JURIX 2014, Legal informatics conferences, Rinke Hoekstra



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Ződi: Analysis of Citation Patterns of Hungarian Judicial Decisions

Dr. Zsolt Ződi of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences has posted Analysis of Citation Patterns of Hungarian Judicial Decisions: Is Hungarian Legal System Really Converging to Case Laws? Results of a Computer Based Citation Analysis of Hungarian Judicial Decisions .

Here is the abstract:

It is one of the most popular leitmotif of comparative legal science that civil and common legal systems are converging. The primary consideration behind this is, that the role of “precedents” are increasing in civilian legal systems, while statutory law’s importance is growing in common law.

In 2012 we performed a research on more than 60,000 Hungarian judicial decisions, published on the website of State Office of Courts, (Országos Bírósági Hivatal) in order to explore an important aspect of the “precedential character” of the Hungarian law. The first, (quantitative) part of the research was computer-based: we collected and analysed all the citations (links within the database) to precedents within the text of the decisions and analysed the citation patterns. In the second (qualitative) phase we selected 520 decisions randomly, read them, and recorded four additional aspects in a database. This paper shows the results of both.

Filed under: Applications, Articles and papers, Research findings Tagged: Citation of legal authorities, Content analysis in legal informatics, Judicial precedent, Judicial precedent in civil law systems, Legal citation, Legal citation analysis, Legal citation studies, Legal descriptive metadata, Legal metadata, Legal precedent, Mixed methods in legal informatics, Qualitative methods in legal informatics, Quantitative methods in legal informatics, Stare decisis, Zsolt Ződi



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Get Ahead By Debunking the SEO Myth of the 'Tail'

Attorneys need many tools to shape a successful online marketing strategy, but SEO is perhaps the least understood. If a world of potential clients is heaven, then Google is St. Peter, and a proper search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is...



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Women in legal technology the focus of cover stories in ABA Journal

Women in legal technology are the focus of two cover stories in American Bar Association Journal (April 2014):

• 10 women to watch in legal tech: Worth Watching


• Women are squarely in the picture where law and technology combine

Of the women covered in the articles, the following have been discussed previously on our blog:

• Mariya Badeva-Bright of the African Legal Information Institute


• Lisa Colpoys of Illinois Legal Aid Online


• Christie Dudley of Fork the Law


• Monica Goyal of MyLegalBriefcase


• Marci Harris of POPVOX


• Serena Manzoli of Peppercorn


• Monica Palmirani of the University of Bologna


• Amy Wan of The Legal Pioneer and Law Tech Ladies


• Rebecca Williams of the Sunlight Foundation and DC Legal Hackers

For details, please see the articles.

HT @EJWalters

Filed under: Accolades, Articles and papers, Profiles Tagged: ABA Journal, Amy Wan, Christie Dudley, Entrepreneurs in legal technology, Entrepreneurship in legal technology, Innovation in legal technology, Law practice technology, Legal entrepreneurs, Legal entrepreneurship, Legal startups, Legal technology innovation, Legislative information systems, Lisa Colpoys, Marci Harris, Mariya Badeva-Bright, Monica Goyal, Monica Palmirani, Rebecca Williams, Serena Manzoli, Women in legal technology



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Audio available of radio program on D.C. Decoded: Open Data, Open Government

Traci Hughes , Seamus Kraft , Joshua Tauberer , and V. David Zvenyach were guests on a radio program entitled D.C. Decoded: Open Data, Open Government? , hosted by Kojo Nnamdi, on 24 March 2014, on WAMU in Washington, DC.

Audio of the program is available at: http://ift.tt/1jpT9fK

Here is a description of the program:

All D.C. residents are expected to abide by the D.C. Code, a compilation of all city laws and regulations. But until recently, most residents didn’t have easy online access to the code itself. A coalition of advocates and civic hackers recently released a new website, DCDecoded.org, which attempts to shed light on the inner workings of local government. Kojo talks with advocates inside and outside government about the promise and limitations of open government initiatives.

Guests

Josh Tauberer

“civic hacker” and founder, GovTrack.us

Traci Hughes

Director, DC Office of Open Government

V. David Zvenyach

General Counsel, D.C. Council

Seamus Kraft

Executive Director & Co-Founder, OpenGov Foundation

Related Links

D.C. Decoded: Discover the D.C. Code

The OpenGov Foundation

DC Office of Open Government, Board of Ethics and Government Accountability

HT @FoundOpenGov

Filed under: APIs, Applications, Audio, Data sets, Projects, Technology developments, Technology tools Tagged: DC Decoded, DCDecoded, DCDecoded.org, eparticipation, eparticipation systems, Free access to law, Joshua Tauberer, Kojo Nnamdi, Kojo Show, Legal open government data, Legislative information systems, Open legal data, Open legislative data, Public access to legal information, Seamus Kraft, State Decoded, The State Decoded, Traci Hughes, V. David Zvenyach, WAMU



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Starger and Dodson: Video: Mapping Supreme Court Doctrine: Civil Pleading, using SCOTUS Mapper Software

Profesor Colin Starger of the University of Baltimore and Professor Scott Dodson of the University of California Hastings have posted a new video entitled Mapping Supreme Court Doctrine: Civil Pleading .

The video demonstrates the use of Colin Starger’s SCOTUS Mapper Software to visually analyze and display patterns among US Supreme Court decisions dealing with pleading in civil cases.

Click here for previous posts about Colin Starger’s research using the SCOTUS Mapper Software.

HT @ColinStarger

Filed under: Applications, Software, Technology developments, Technology tools, Videos Tagged: Argument mapping and law, Argument maps and law, Civil procedure information systems, Colin Starger, Constitutional law information systems, Darren Kumasawa, Iqbal doctrine, Legal argument mapping, Legal argument mapping software, Legal argument maps, Legal doctrine maps, Mapping Civil Pleading, Mapping legal arguments, Mapping legal doctrines, Mapping legal rules, Mapping Supreme Court Doctrine: Civil Pleading, Scott Dodson, SCOTUS Mapper Software, SCOTUS Mapping Project, Supreme Court Mapping Project, Twombly doctrine, Twombly Iqbal caselaw, Twombly Iqbal doctrine, Visualization of court information, Visualization of judicial information, Visualization of legal argumentation, Visualization of legal arguments, Visualization of legal doctrine, Visualization of legal information



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Colbran and Gilding: MOOCs and the Rise of Online Legal Education

Professor Dr. Stephen Colbran of Central Queensland University and Dr. Anthony Gilding of La Trobe University have published MOOCs and the Rise of Online Legal Education , Journal of Legal Education , 63, 405-428 (2014).

The article discusses undergraduate, graduate, and continuing legal education via MOOCs, with respect to learning, teaching, and models of online legal education.

Click here for more information on legal MOOCs.

Filed under: Applications, Articles and papers, Technology developments, Technology tools Tagged: Anthony Gilding, Continuing legal education, Journal of Legal Education, Legal educational technology, Legal instructional technology, Legal MOOCs, Online legal education, Stephen Colbran



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Getty Images' Lean In Collection Shows Real Women Doing Real Things

If you've ever looked at stock photography of career women, used everywhere from websites to promotional materials, then you've probably noticed that women who work are often depicted doing the ridiculous. Whether it's sprouting eight arms, wearing boxing gloves or...



Continue reading this article, and get more law firm business news and information, at FindLaw.com.



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Google+, Authorship, +1s, and How it All Impacts Lawyer Marketing

Yesterday, we talked about marketing your law firm on Facebook in the new "pay to play" age. But Facebook isn't the only social network out there, and if you are disillusioned by the company's move away from "organic" (natural) news...



Continue reading this article, and get more law firm business news and information, at FindLaw.com.



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Tom Bruce: Online discussion of free access to law: Video, storify, and tweets

Tom Bruce of the Legal Information Institute (LII) held an online discussion about free access to law , on 19 March 2014, on Google + Hangout.

A video of the discussion is at: http://ift.tt/1hMjgrP

Click here for a storify of the event.

Click here for archived Twitter tweets from the event, in .csv format.

Here is a description of the event, from the event’s Website:

Join LII co-founder and director Tom Bruce for our next Google Hangout, Wednesday, March 19, 2014 at 7pm EDT. Tom will answer your questions about the LII, the future of the free access to law movement, and talk about what’s next for the LII website. Tweet your questions to @liicornell, or email us: help AT liicornell DOT org

Filed under: Applications, Online discussions, Storify, Technology developments, Technology tools, Tweet archives, Videos Tagged: Free access to law, Legal Information Institute at Cornell University, Legal Linked Data, Legislative information systems, Linked Data and law, Open legal data, Public access to legal information, Regulatory information systems, Tom Bruce



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