The Council of the Computer & Technology Section has released some of the older versions of its Circuits eJournal to the public. You no longer need a password to enjoy issues of Circuits. Links to some of the previous versions are below:
This issue of Circuits contains the following featured articles:
In addition, there are a set of Short Circuits:
You can download a formal copy of this issue here.
Google saw fit to bestow a free ticket to a member of the Council to attend the Strata Conference (https://conferences.oreilly.com/strata) in New York City. The Strata Conference is all about Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Data Science, as well as some attendant topics. Size-wise, this conference is on a par with LegalTech and the International Legal Technology Association (“ILTA”) Conference . However that is about where the similarity ends. As far as I could tell, I was the only attorney in attendance. They were curious to know why I was there, but when I described e-discovery, data breach situations and the like — they got it. A very welcoming lot. Here are some observations:
1. As with the legal conventions, AI was all the rage. Not surprising, however, because the Strata conference is all about data, so Data Science (aka “Big Data”) plays an more important role. AI is used to analyze Big Data. There is just so much data that only a machine could cope with it.
2. Open source software applications dominate the field. In fact, there was one presentation entitled “Commercial Software in an Increasingly Open Source Ecosystem.” Large companies now insist on open source applications (for a variety of reasons). So much so that when they go looking for solutions, they turn to the open source versions first. Even Microsoft was touting how well you could run Linux and other open source applications on Azure. Microsoft knows that it has a credibility problem in this area, but they are truly making an effort to make amends with the open source community (and by extension, corporate America).
3. AI and Data Science are quickly being institutionalized in corporate America. Corporate networks are being modified to capture company data for use in AI-based applications (which have an insatiable thirst for data).
4. The pace of AI development is exponential, and that pace won’t slow down anytime soon. Indeed, the pace of infrastructure modifications to take advantage of AI development will ensure that that exponential rate of GPU (graphic processor units) growth continues for the near term.
5. Moore’s law is officially dead — kind of. The current rate of growth of *CPU* capability is 1.1:1, rather than the 1.5:1 during the heyday of Moore’s law. Don’t despair. The growth rate for *GPU’s* (favored by AI applications) is currently 1.5:1. Moore’s law isn’t quite dead yet, but it has shifted a bit.
6. AI is getting easier to develop and use. Software is being developed to abstract the process of creating AI. This abstraction process is intended to insulate normal people from the nitty-gritty of developing AI. I saw one Microsoft engineer build an AI-based chat bot in less than 5 minutes (he timed himself, right in front of us). The point is, AI is getting easier to develop and use all the time. Soon, even a lawyer will be able to do it. What this portends is hard to fathom, but people would be wise to monitor the developments. Even better, AI has now hit the “hobby” level, in that the tools to start developing AI are free (from a software royalty standpoint) and the hardware costs to do it (beyond a snail’s pace) are modest.
Materials by Al Harrison (Houston) and Ron Chichester (Tomball) at the State Bar of Texas 2017 Annual Meeting: Cybersecurity: Ethically Safeguarding Your Clients’ Data and Your Law License.
Review by Ronald Chichester, Council Member of the Computer & Technology Section
This is a review of LegalBoard’s lawyer-oriented keyboard. According to the box, “LegalBoard (tm) allows legal professionals to type more efficiently. With a single keystroke, you can insert common legal terms, turn track changes on and off, and more.”
LegalBoard is a full-featured keyboard with number pad. The fit and finish of the keyboard is excellent. The keystrokes are not stiff, and the keyboard has a nice tactile feel. The extras, however, set it apart from the competition.
LegalBoard is made for that subset of lawyers who write briefs. More specifically, LegalBoard is for those lawyers who write briefs using Microsoft Word on Windows. For those lawyers who don’t do Windows, or who don’t use Word, take heart. Most of the legal-functionality on the keyboard is available for those who are using other word processors (like LibreOffice) and text editors on Windows or other operating systems (like Mac or Linux).
The extra functionality of LegalBoard comes in four different sets: 1) text-insert; 2) formatting; 3) special character insertion; and 4) Word-specific commands. The keyboard functions in two modes: A) standard; and B) legal. While in standard mode, the keyboard functions just like any other keyboard. The legal-specific functionality is invoked by pressing a special “L” button on the upper-left of the number pad.
Once in legal mode, all four sets of legal-specific functions are available, although some of the functions are available only for Word on Windows (and not even Word on the Mac).
The text-insert functionality is available on all word-processors and text editors in all three major operating systems (Windows, Mac and Linux). Yes, you can use this functionality for LaTex on Linux and just about anything else. There are text-insert keys for: “see”, “e.g.”, “U.S.”, “F.3d”, “F.2d”, “F.Supp.”, “U.S.C.”, “Plaintiff”, “Defendant”, “Appellant”, “Respondant”, “Supreme Court”, and “Court of Appeals”. Less time, fewer typos.
The formatting keys include bold, italic and underline (which work pretty well in Word and non-Word applications on all the operating systems). There are, however, some nifty formatting functions that work only on Word for Windows, namely the single/1.5/double spacing buttons. Quite handy for briefs.
There are special character keys for Section (“§”), Paragraph (“¶”) Copyright (“©”) characters. Yes, you can get the same functionality by playing tricks with your autocorrect feature, but having it as one-keystroke is quite desirable. These character keys simply invoke the Alt-xxx function, and may be adaptable to other operating systems with the right kind of driver.
The final set of features are available only on Word for Windows. One key toggles Track Changes on/off. Another adds a comment to a Word Document (and the Shift-comment key toggles back and forth between the comment box or the original cursor position). Another key starts a bullet list. Yet another button adds a footnote in a single keystroke! There is also a button to toggle the small caps formatting. Finally, there is a button to open and (Shift+) close the find window in Word.
Although advertised specifically for the Word-for-Windows market, many of the features of the LegalBoard are available to other brief-writers. Someday, someone is going to make a programmable keyboard that can be set up for any word processor on any operating system. Until that day arrives, however, LegalBoard is simply the best legal-brief-specific keyboard out there.
