INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND LAWYERS

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND LAWYERS

Information Technology and Lawyers Advanced Technology in the Legal Domain, from Challenges to Daily Routine Edited by ARNO R. LODDER Centre for Electronic Dispute Resolution (cedire.org) ANJA OSKAMP Computer/Law Institute (cli.vu)

A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN-10 1-4020-4145-4 (HB) ISBN-13 978-1-4020-4145-7 (HB) ISBN-10 1-4020-4146-2 (e-book) ISBN-13 978-1-4020-4146-4 (e-book) Published by Springer, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. www.springer.com Printed on acid-free paper All rights reserved. C 2006 Springer No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed in the Netherlands.

CONTENTS Preface vii 1. Introduction: Law, Information Technology, and Artificial Intelligence 1 ANJA OSKAMP AND ARNO R. LODDER 1.1. Information Technology and Lawyers 1 1.2. Information Technology and Law 2 1.2.1.Information Technology Law 3 1.2.2.IT for Lawyers 3 1.2.3.Technology and the Involvement of Lawyers 4 1.3. Some Basic Concepts 4 1.4. Taxonomy of Technology Support for Lawyers 6 1.4.1.Three Different Taxonomies 6 1.4.2.Knowledge Management and Taxonomies 7 1.5. Artificial Intelligence 8 1.5.1.Problem Solving 9 1.5.2.Modeling Tasks and Processes 9 1.5.3.Games 9 1.5.4.Communication 10 1.5.5.Perception 10 1.5.6.Robotica 10 1.5.7.Conclusion 11 1.6. AI and Law 11 1.6.1.Information Retrieval 1950s 11 1.6.2.Knowledge Systems and Argumentation 1980s 12 1.6.3.Organizations and Conferences 12 1.7. Convergence in it and Law 13 1.7.1.Online Dispute Resolution 14 1.7.2.Intelligent Agents 15 1.7.3.Validation 16 1.7.4.Courtroom Technology or IT Support of the Judiciary 18 1.7.5.The European Countries 18 1.7.6.Australia, Singapore and Venezuala 19 1.7.7.Case Management: Road to Success 19 1.8. Structure of the Book 20 2. Case-Based Reasoning 23 KEVIN ASHLEY 2.1. Introduction: A Computerized Case-Based Legal Assistant 23 2.2. Desiderata for a Computerized Case-Based Legal Assistant 25 v

vi CONTENTS 2.3. A Computer Program Compares Legal Cases on Their Facts 27 2.4. Legal IR Case Retrieval vs. Case Comparison 30 2.5. Automating Case-Based Comparison, Inference, and Argument 35 2.6. Dimensional Case Comparison, Inference, and Argument 37 2.7. Case Comparison, Inference, and Argument With Ebes 43 2.8. Integrating Case-Based and Logical Inference 46 2.9. Prediction in Computerized Case-Based Legal Assistants 52 2.10. Connecting With Full-Text Legal Information Retrieval Tools 56 2.11. Conclusion: Synthesizing a Computerized Case-Based Legal Assistant: How Far Off? 58 3. Argumentation 61 TREVOR BENCH-CAPON AND HENRY PRAKKEN 3.1. Introduction 61 3.2. Proof and Argument 62 3.3. Early Systems For Legal Argumentation 63 3.3.1.Conflicting Interpretations 63 3.3.2.Reasoning with Precedents 64 3.4. Logical Accounts of Reasoning Under Disagreement 66 3.4.1.Reasoning about Conflicting Rules 67 3.4.2.Other Arguments about Rules 69 3.5. Dialogue and Mediation Systems 71 3.6. Tactics for Dispute 73 3.7. Argument Schemes 74 3.8. Systems to Structure Argument 75 3.9. Prospects for Practical Realisation 77 3.10. Concluding Remarks 79 4. Knowledge Discovery from Legal Databases Using Neural Networks and Data Mining to Build Legal Decision Support Systems 81 ANDREW STRANIERI AND JOHN ZELEZNIKOW 4.1. Introduction 81 4.2. Differences Between Legal and Other Data 82 4.2.1.Open Texture and Discretion 82 4.2.2.Landmark and Commonplace Cases 84 4.2.3.Stare Decisis 87 4.3. Phases in the Knowledge Discovery From Database Process 89 4.3.1.Data Selection 89 4.3.2.Data PreProcessing 90 4.3.3.Data Transformation 90 4.3.4.Data Mining and Evaluation 93 4.4. Neural Networks 94 4.4.1.Feed Forward Networks 95 4.4.2.Neural Networks and Defeasible Rules 99 4.4.3.Neural Networks and Vague Terms 100 4.4.4.Neural Networks in Law 102

CONTENTS vii 4.5. Knowledge Discovery from Database Techniques 103 4.5.1.Classification 104 4.5.2.Clustering and Text Mining 111 4.5.3.Time Series Analysis 112 4.5.4.Association Rules 113 4.6. Limitations of Knowledge Discovery From Databases 115 4.7. Conclusion 116 5. Improving Access to Legal Information: How Drafting Systems Help 119 MARIE-FRANCINE MOENS 5.1. Introduction 119 5.2. Legal Information 120 5.3. State of the Art of Legal Drafting Systems 122 5.4. State of the Art of Legal Information Retrieval Systems 127 5.5. Legal Drafting Improves Access to Legal Information 129 5.5.1.Drafting and Traditional Retrieval 130 5.5.2.Interactive Question Answering System 132 5.5.3.Future Directions 134 5.6. Conclusions 135 6. Internet, WWW, and Beyond 137 GERALD QUIRCHMAYR 6.1. Aim, Organization, and Background of this Chapter 137 6.2. What the Internet Means for Lawyers and How it Has Contributed to Changing the Work Environment of Lawyers 137 6.3. The Internet as Increasingly Important Source of Information 138 6.4. Searching For Information on the Internet 139 6.5. Providing Information and Doing Business on the Internet 142 6.6. The Language of the WWW 143 6.7. E-Administration A Profound Change For the Legal Profession 147 6.8. Integrating the Internet with Traditional Desktop-Based Office Environments and Databases 151 6.9. Emerging Technologies: Mobile, Ubiquitous, and Pervasive Systems 154 6.10. Security and Stability: Concerns for Internet-Based Infrastructures 155 6.11. Mobile Lawyers and Live Spaces: A Look at Technology Without Walls 158 6.12. Selected Best Practice Examples 160 6.13. Conclusion 163 7. Artificial Intelligence in the Real Legal Workplace 165 MARC LAURITSEN 7.1. Nature and Artifice 165 7.2. Three Kinds of Knowledge Technology 166 7.2.1.Storage and Transport 166

viii CONTENTS 7.2.2.Extending Humans 166 7.2.3.Independent Work 167 7.2.4.Law Office Knowledge Tool Examples 167 7.3. AI More Specifically 168 7.3.1.What Does It Mean To Be Smart? 169 7.3.2.Some Distinctions 169 7.4. AI in Law 170 7.4.1.Legal Uses of Nonlegal AI 170 7.4.2.Legal Uses of Legal AI 172 7.5. Obstacles and Opportunities 173 7.5.1.Theory and Practice 173 7.5.2.The Legal Industry 173 7.5.3.Signs of Change 174 7.6. Room for Improvement 175 Bibliography 177 Index 191

PREFACE The area of Information Technology and Lawyers is a fascinating one. Both from a practical and an academic perspective the opportunities of applying Information Technology to law are tremendous. At the same time, however, lawyers are, in this field, amongst the most conservative professionals, and traditional late adapters of technology. Nowadays the gap between Information Technology and Lawyers is gradually closing, in particular due to the Internet and the richness of legal sources to be found online. This book provides material to further bridge the gap by showing people with alegal background what is possible with Information Technology now and in the near future, as well as by showing people with an IT background what opportunities exist in the domain of law. Generally, this book hopes to be a source of interesting material to all interested in the intersection between Information Technology and Lawyers, both from an academic and a practitioners point of view. The authors of the various chapters did a great job in discussing the topics at a level that can be understood by readers with no particular legal or IT background, while at the same time even specialists in the field of IT and Law should appreciate this book. We thank Christa Hoeksel for helping us in preparing the Camera Ready manuscript. Amsterdam, July 2005 Arno R. Lodder Anja Oskamp ix