Deep Blue sky thinking: The cutting edge of legal AI

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Artificial intelligence is big news once again in law and beyond. Legal Business speaks to leaders in the field of advanced automation to assess what it means for the profession.

> How are you today?
* I’m afraid AI will change the legal profession.
> How long have you been afraid AI will change the legal profession?
* Since I started speaking to AI researchers.
> Can you elaborate on that?
* They were telling me about their latest research.
> I don’t understand you.
* Neither did they, that’s why I wanted to see a therapist.
> Tell me more…

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Applied science and snake oil: AI in practice

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The cutting-edge science in artificial intelligence in law is startling, but does the tech currently offered by commercial legal providers match the hype?

It’s a sign of the times: Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) now has its own ‘robot’. In September, the firm announced it had teamed up with tech company RAVN Systems in a deal to use its artificial intelligence (AI) platform, known as the Applied Cognitive Engine (RAVN ACE).

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The i-Team: The client perspective on AI

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Pioneering GCs are taking control of legal spend, armed with the latest tech. Can the rest of the in-house community keep pace?

If conventional law firms have been slow to embrace technology – and they have – their counterparts in-house have been barely moving. But in the last five years signs have emerged of ‘early adopters’ in the bluechip general counsel (GC) community who are willing to do more than apply new tools at the margins. The GCs are turning to technology to reshape the way they work.

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The specialist court the City needs

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Herbert Smith Freehills’ Tim Parkes welcomes the overdue launch of London’s financial court but warns of the dangers of test cases

Not before time, the English court system will soon add to its stable of specialist courts a Financial List, to deal with major banking and other financial disputes. This is a positive illustration of the English courts not resting on their laurels as a pre-eminent venue for commercial dispute resolution but taking active steps to ensure that they meet the needs of financial markets users and enhance London’s status as a global financial centre.

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Undisputed – the next generation of partners setting the disputes agenda

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As contentious work increasingly drives revenues at major City firms, Legal Business canvasses the leading teams to find the new partners setting the disputes agenda.

Over the last decade, an undeniable emphasis on contentious skills has occurred among the elite City firms. While seasoned litigators and arbitration specialists still dominate the landscape, firms are working harder than ever to develop their younger generation of partners.

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ABC – the brutally simple world of a private equity lawyer

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As diversifying private equity houses continue to drive transactional activity in Europe, the battle to build high-end buyout teams intensifies. Who has made the right bets?

The philosophy of Richard Matthew Youle is simple: ‘If you’re moving firms then you’ve got to back yourself that you’ve got the charisma to bring in the clients and have chosen the right firm with a strong enough platform to service them. Then you better deliver the deal, because if you fuck it up, you’re toast.’

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Perspectives: Mark Howard QC

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When I came to the Bar I didn’t know anybody, but fortunately got introduced to Tom Bingham and I was his marshal during my pupillage for about six weeks. He was a very inspiring figure. He was quite a junior judge then but he had tremendous insight. I was only with him for six weeks but he’s the person I’ve learnt the most from.

At that stage I liked the sound of my own voice too much. The problem at the Bar is that you’re always arguing a corner, it’s very difficult in your personal life. My wife always says ‘stop cross-examining me’.

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The cyber security roundtable: Victims and visions

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As cyber security issues continue to dominate the headlines amid a fractious European backdrop, we assembled a group of senior GCs to ask how to handle the inevitable attacks.

Even the cynics that see cyber security as the latest in a long line of corporate fads generating its own compliance circus and attending cottage industry have to concede that such threats – and the increasingly entwined issue of privacy – are becoming a more pressing matter.

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North Africa round table – Through the gate

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With North Africa becoming a regional hub for international clients doing business on the continent, we teamed up with Bennani & Associés to debate the practicalities of servicing clients in Algeria and Morocco.

For the avoidance of doubt, Africa is not a single market for international firms to crack. Not only is it a continent comprising 54 distinct legal jurisdictions, but there are also numerous entry points for global legal service providers to service their clients.

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Perspectives: Emmanuel Gaillard

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In a small resort called La Féclaz in the Alps, a lawyer was sitting next to me in the restaurant telling stories about criminal law. I said then: ‘That’s what I’m supposed to do.’ I was just going through the motions before that and being made miserable by studying maths.

I spent two summers at Rockefeller Plaza being a New York lawyer when I was 30 at a two-partner law firm called Layton & Sherman. They were typical New Yorkers… always in pinstripe suits! I had never been to Manhattan. I lived near the Upper West Side and I was going out in jazz bars and going downtown meeting artists.

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