Today Lexis is announcing Lexis is launching a significant new platform called Lexis + . I had a call with Jeff Pfeifer,   chief product officer at LexisNexis and David Ganote senior director of product strategy at Lexis Nexis. Lexis+  is being positioned as a premium solution which has been in development over the last 18 months.  Pfeifer described the release as improving the user experience and delivering insights though integration across all elements of the platform. There are a total of 11 new features which will only be available in Lexis+:

  1. Updated, Modern User Interface visual styling including a new Experience Dock to navigate to integrated elements of the product​
  2. Practical Guidance content fully integrated in “Search All​” experience of Legal Research
  3. Lexis Practice Advisor application also fully integrated in Lexis+ and all subscribers will have access to at least one module of practical guidance content
  4. Brief Analysis
  5. Expanded Search Term Maps, now covering 35 Content Types
  6. ​Enhanced Ravel View, including new ‘anchor’ capabilities to better navigate the visual map
  7. Shepard’s At Risk
  8. Code Compare
  9. Lexis Answers, fully redesigned in Lexis+
  10. Missing & Must Include​
  11. Search Tree

One of the most fascinating aspects of the new platform is rebuild of the Lexis Answers feature. According to Pfeifer the newest version of Lexis Answers was built at Lexis Labs where the team worked with a machine learning technology from Google  referred to as BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers). BERT was smart but not smart enough to master the complexities of legal concepts and the idiosyncrasies of legal writing and syntax. According to Pfeifer “Lexis sent BERT to law school.” Lexis was able to train BERT using the Lexis taxonomy and headnotes which had been developed at Lexis decades ago. Yet another example of human machine collaboration. 

The Insight Wave. The signature visual identity is called the “insight wave” a net-like swath of color which arcs and turns across the screen. According to Pfeifer,  the  new image represents the flow and inter-connected-ness of information. This is appropriate since the new platform offers a  tighter integration of research, analytics and practical guidance tools.

Voluntary upgrade. I’m going to cut to the chase for my librarian and knowledge management colleagues. Lexis Advance is not being phased out. Subscribers can continue to purchase Lexis Advance or choose to upgrade to Lexis+.

The Dashboard. The main Lexis dashboard includes an “experience dock” on the left side of the screen which allows users to select between legal research, practical guidance or brief analysis. 

 “What would you like to research today?”  hovers over the prominent search bar. The single search feature will search across all Lexis content. Users can enter queries using natural language or Boolean.

Lexis Answers in Lexis+ was developed from the ground up.  Today, it answers from questions from caselaw but the Continue Reading Lexis Rides the “Insight Wave:” Launches  Lexis+ with New Look, Brief Analyzer, AI Search, Codes Compare and Loads of New Features

Tax lawyers want it all. And the more granular and up-to date the better. Today  Wolters Kluwer  Legal and Regulatory released a new alerts feature in digital Tax Reporters Plus Suite on Cheetah that will enable tax lawyers to track alerts for changes in the tax code, regulations, explanations and other code related documents.

Alerts in a Time of COVID

New legislation is always followed by a raft of regulations and administrative materials.Since the passage of the CARES Act PL 116-123 and the Families First Act PL 116-127 in response to the COVID pandemic tax lawyers have been on high alert monitoring the implementing regulations and interpretive materials.

With the Tax Reporters Plus Suite’s new Alerts feature, users can set alerts to monitor tax code sections they are Continue Reading Tax Law Alerts in a Time of COVID — Wolters Kluwer Cheetah Adds Powerful New Tracking Tool

Full Court Press, the Fastcase imprint  is launching a webinar series in conjunction with legal history publishers TwelveTables Press. “Leaders in Law” is a monthly webinar series featuring interviews with notable attorney involved in civil rights in the U.S. and around the world.

“There’s no better time to hear from those who fight the civil rights fight and have taken these legal steps before us,” noted Twelve Tables Press Publisher and Fastcase COO, Steve Errick.

 The first live webinar in the series focuses on a seminar LGBT rights case. The Legacy of Lawrence v. Texas, is Continue Reading Fastcase Launches “Leaders in Law” Webinar Series Focused on Lawyers in Civil Rights

Today Lex Machina, a LexisNexis company is making the COVID-10 Impact Analyzer App “COVID App” available to the public for free. It was released on June 1st to Lex Machina subscribers. The COVID app provides insights into the past and ongoing impact of COVID-19 on the federal district court litigation.  The press release cites Lex Machina’s  public interest originals as driving the  public launch which will allow “individuals and organizations to analyze data from new cases filed in the federal district court since February of 2020.” Just to be clear, Lex Machina apps are not phone apps. Lex Machina apps are accessible on a desktop. A public access version of the COVID app is available for free  at this link.

Lex Machina subscribers  using the app can click through to the underlying cases for filings and documents for complaints.  

Weekly COVID Case FIlings in Federal District Court by Case Type

The COVID App delivers insights on both the volume of COVID related litigation in federal courts and the impact of Continue Reading LEX MACHINA LAUNCHES COVID-19 IMPACT ANALYZER APP  FREE TO PUBLIC – WEBINAR TODAY

Today LexisNexis is launching the Product Liability Navigator, a “purpose built” product to help in-house counsel and law firms facing  complex types of litigation. It offers a custom dashboard and workflow. Perhaps more importantly, Products Liability Navigator  enables a lawyer to quickly assess the risks of potential litigation.

The press release includes a quote from LexisNexis North American CEO, Sean Fitzpatrick. “Lexis Product Liability Navigator is a powerful solution that addresses the unique needs of litigators practicing products liability law. The workflow-based solution illuminates the risks or rewards of a case and saves time and resources on case assessment… From product recall reports to verdict summaries, no other solution provides this level of functionality or mirrors the way attorneys and researchers approach product liability cases. We listened to over 300 product liability practitioners and custom-built a solution designed to set them up for success. Simply put, Lexis Product Liability Navigator dramatically reduces the time it takes to make well-researched decisions in products liability cases.”

The Dashboard. The Navigator enables lawyers to assess information based on product type, product name, manufacturer and federal  or state Jurisdiction. Search results display in a dashboard which shows multiples Continue Reading LexisNexis Product Liability Navigator: Speeds Assessment of Case Value, Viability, Risk

OK sitting in your improvised home office (bedroom, dining room, fire escape, patio,basement, closet) will not be the same as swinging through the steamy streets of the French Quarter in July.  B-u-u-u-u-t  AALL has valiantly forged ahead  with a virtual  Unmasking Our Potential themed conference which will be available to members and non members at a significantly reduced cost while offering a powerful roster of speakers and topics. The conference  has been adjusted to address the changed circumstances of members as the result of COVID-19. There will also be a vendor event called “partner solutions day” on July 13th.  Member registration is $99, Student and retired members attend for free. Don’t miss this historic and unique event! Register here!

 

Here is the full AALL Press Release:

The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) is excited to announce that registration is now open to all for its virtual conference being held July 13-17. AALL 2020 Reimagined with the theme “Unmasking Our Potential” has a new meaning today!
The AALL 2020 virtual conference will feature a virtual exhibit hall and livestreamed sessions covering topics of value to legal information professionals right now, including: enhancing research services, supporting law librarianship as a career, navigating remote work, and adapting to and preparing for a profession changed by COVID-19.

The event will begin with a partner solutions day on Monday, July 13, where registrants can explore and connect with providers of products and services that legal information professionals need. Livestream sessions will kick off on Tuesday, July 14, including an interview with AALL President Michelle Cosby and keynote speaker Jim Kwik, mental coach and advisor to many of the world’s leading CEOs and celebrities.

“AALL is committed to providing its members with continued educational resources and finding innovative ways to continually advance law librarianship and the legal information profession,” said AALL President Michelle Cosby. “The AALL Virtual Conference will be the first of its kind for the Association and a creative solution to this year’s in person Annual Meeting, which was canceled as a result of the pandemic. We’re looking forward to the conversations with our extensive list of speakers and vendors, as well as our interview with keynote speaker Jim Kwik, who is sure to provide invaluable insight to conference attendees.”

Kwik is the founder of Kwik Learning and a widely recognized expert in speed-reading, memory improvement, brain performance, and accelerated learning. In addition to the keynote, the AALL Virtual Conference will include over 20 live education sessions, as well as a virtual exhibit hall where conference registrants and vendors can interact and discuss the changes to products for law libraries as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants will be able to ask questions via live chat or submit questions in advance of the conference. In the week following the conference, approximately 30 prerecorded sessions will be available for viewing.

With the focus of being a valuable educational resource still available to participants even during a pandemic, the AALL Virtual Conference is an affordable way for both AALL members and nonmembers to enhance their skills and knowledge as legal information professionals.

For more information about the AALL Virtual Conference or to register, visit bit.ly/AALL20virtual.
 

 

PLI is offering a free one hour webinar on June 11th at 3 pm.  You must register on the PLI website and use the code: FREE COVID. Here is the description of the program.Register for free at this link

COVID-19 and Issues for Legal Librarians

As the legal community adjusts to the COVID-19 new normal virtual work environment, law librarians face unique challenges.  It is vitally important for law librarians to be proactive in monitoring the needs of the respective practice areas they support, including ensuring adequate research is being performed in those hot Covid-19 practice areas and ensuring alerts have been set up to monitor late breaking Continue Reading PLI Offers Free COVID Webinar for Law Librarians on Thursday June 11th

The financial crisis of 2007 triggered a convulsion in the legal industry which continues to offer aftershocks exacerbated  by “economic, demographic, regulatory, technology and competitive demands.” And then  as we know, the COVID-19 pandemic  triggered new a new crisis. Wolters Kluwer was analyzing the legal marketplace back in January 2020. Today they are releasing the survey results in the 2020 Wolters Kluwer Future Ready Lawyer: Performance Drivers and Change in the Legal Sector” which was designed “to assess the future-readiness and resilience in the legal sector.”

The survey gathers feedback from an international group of 700 legal professionals working in law firms and as in-house counsel.. The full survey is available at this link.

The report is 29 pages long but is full of graphs and data illustrating various trends as well as the disconnects between law firms and in-house counsel priorities. Both law firms and in house counsel share an awareness of technology as a critical success factor but the majority of both organization types are f ailing overcome obstacles to implementation.

I spoke with Dean Sonderegger, head of Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S about the survey results. Sonderegger predicts that the COVID pandemic will accelerate all the trends identified in the survey.

Top Trends and Readiness

Continue Reading Wolters Kluwer 2020 Future Ready Lawyer Survey–Tech Aspiration vs. Tech Implementation

Lex Machina has announced the expansion of their state law analytics  offering with the addition of the Sacramento County Superior Court (California) and Clark County (Nevada) which covers Las Vegas. This adds a total of 171,480  new cases bringing the total state case analytics to 1,126,722 new cases .  The state law analytics provides lawyers with insights into judges, court, law firms, attorneys and parties.

The new state court analytics modules are like the Lex Machina federal court analytics products, built using a proprietary  Attorney Data Engine and other natural language processing technology, According to the press release “Lex Machina is the only legal analytics provider able to utilize state court documents to provide comprehensive coverage about the behavior of judges, law firms, attorneys, and parties in state courts.”

In an earlier post about Lex Machina  state law analytics products I described the unique challenges of taming state court data. “each state court system the product development team had to get “under the hood” to understand the idiosyncrasies of  docket system and data collection practices.”

According to the press release “Lex Machina worked closely with the court systems to understand their docketing practices and create analytics that reflect the unique aspects of individual courts. The two new state courts – Sacramento County Superior Court (88,000+ cases) and Clark County (Las Vegas) District Court (82,000+ cases) – each have their own data collection infrastructure and nuances. These modules, and thus the substantial case numbers, cover four years of court activity beginning with cases filed January 1, 2016 or later.”

Why Sacramento and Clark County?

The Sacramento and Clark County courts were chosen because they represent important data sets in the universe of Continue Reading Lex Machina Launches New State Court Analytics for California and Nevada

Fastcase is digging deeper into the legal news market with the timely launch of an agricultural law news section.  David Nayer, Editor in Chief of Law Street Media cites the timeliness of the launch in the press release.  The Agriculture section and Alerts Center is being launched “ while our world is finding its new normal, and its especially relevant to those in food production, food service, and supply chains that impact each of us.”

The Agriculture section is leveraging “sister product” Docket Alarm’s real-time docket, litigation and analytics information to highlight emerging litigation topics such as farming, food, tobacco, and cannabis. It will also cover related topics such as agriculture policy at the FDA and USDA, the cannabis industry, environmental and land use, and the emergence of agricultural technologies. The Law Street Media newsletters are geared toward providing information “that generates business for its users.”

Law Street Media Docket Side Bar

You gotta love Fastcase co-founder Phil Rosenthal who offers his own “down home” explanation of why Agriculture was the second  news topic to launch. “We wanted our second industry news feed to be about meat and potatoes litigation – literally, so our bar partners across the country and their members can see how tracking filed litigation leads to new business”

As of today, the Agriculture news section is available for FREE on the  Law Street Media home page as well as in daily Continue Reading Fastcase Law Street Media: News With a Flash of Dockets – Launches Timely Food Chain Content