European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 18, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Scanning statutes and Case Law by computer 111? via new York times Jylli Wiehl computers Are changing the practice flaw in the United states performing widening variety of Legal tasks and even imitating the lawyer s Stock in Trade the ability to think like a word processes and information services like lexis and West Law have transformed the profession As they have other Fields and computerized Case files have enabled lawyers to scan statutes and Case Law with a Speed that was once unimaginable. But new computer programs designed especially to perform Legal tasks have taken the automation of Law firms a step further allowing neophyte associates and general practitioners to swiftly draft Many kinds of Legal documents with the skill and flexibility of the most experienced specialist. More advanced experiments in the embryonic Field of artificial intelligence Are tackling the formidable task of mimicking the Way lawyers think reasoning by analogy and crafting arguments from ambiguous Case Law precedents. Like other technological advances the computerization of Legal reasoning is not universally applauded. No sooner have some lawyers begun to Praise the new systems than others have begun warning of their perils worrying that lawyers will sacrifice creativity and innovation on the altar of the computer. A handful of Law firms around the United states have already begun to use programs that their designers Call expert systems which guide lawyers through Legal problems to produce documents for clients. These systems cannot draft Legal arguments or write any but the simplest Brief but they can tailor complicated wills real estate papers contracts and Many other i. Documents to the special needs of particular clients. Instead of spending hours in the Library a lawyer can sit at a video display terminal Type in information about the client s Case and have a speedy answer said Norvell e. Brasch a tax partner who has helped design systems used to draft estate planning documents corporate articles and bylaws As Well As complicated trusts at his 180-lawyer firm Holme Roberts & Owen in Denver. Painstakingly programmed with relevant statutes and each Law firm s own ways of using them the computer finds suitable clauses and Laws and rejects inapplicable ones in response to a series of questions about the client. The system wends its Way through 3,000 possible clauses and paragraphs choosing Only the 28-Oddparagraphs that suit the particular Case said . Ziegler or. Of Ziegler Ross a san Francisco based management consulting firm. Thus in minutes the computer can produce a document that might otherwise require hours of research and cutting and pasting in a Law firm Library. Most expert systems Are programmed by the lawyers who buy them. There is a lot of ego and Art in Legal drafting said Ziegler noting that lawyers Are not interested in generic reprogrammed packages that do not reflect their own styles and idiosyncrasies. Consequently lawyers spend considerable time and thus expense programming the systems with the firm s collective Wisdom. Brasch estimated that it takes up to 600 hours of a lawyer s time to collate the myriad rules and tricks of the Trade needed to write a program. The lawyer s time together with the $50,000 Cost of some systems make automation expensive in the Short term. Costs can be recouped most readily by firms that churn out a High volume of similar documents. We be recovered our costs Many times Over said Edgar m. Masinter managing partner of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in new York which uses expert systems to draft voluminous lending agreements that have much in common with one another. Now we Don t have to reinvent the wheel every time we draft a lending document Masinter said. He said a document that once took 41/a hours to draft now might take Only 45 minutes. Michael a. Pretl a lawyer in Baltimore is profitably using an expert system to determine settlement offers for More than 1,000 personal injury claims involving a contraceptive device the Dalton shield made by the now bankrupt . Robins co. The program weighs each plaintiff s medical and sexual history to determine a settlement value. The computer can do the work of 25 lawyers who weigh the risks and write an offer he said. Ziegler predicted that firms using the systems to specialize in High volume repetitive work could become fast enough to lure business from other firms. Still some lawyers at Many Large firms remain unpersuaded that the systems will prove useful. At Cravath Swaine & Moore in new York one preferring not to be identified said his firm does not produce enough repetitive work to justify the investment. Many firms Are taking a wait and see attitude he said. Not Norvell e. Brasch a tax partner at the Law firm of Holme Roberts and Owen in Denver works at his computer terminal. He has helped design systems to draft estate planning documents and complicated trusts. Erma Bombeck it came As no Surprise to me that my son took the car keys Back with him to California after a recent visit Home. It is something my son has been trained to do by me throughout the years. If he had taken the car Back with him there s no doubt my husband would have granted me permanent custody of him for the rest of my life. It s something i be never really understood. How is it a child can be sectioned off at birth like the steer on the poster at the Frozen meat locker mothers get the Rump and fathers get the Good stuff. It s one of those divisions we seem to accept without question. The baby needs that s mama s the baby is it s mama s we have discussed it. Why is it i asked my husband that your son1 never needs a laxative it s always my son1?" for the same reason he explained that your son1 never needed shoes. Just try to remember that every time his feet were flapping out of a pair of gym shoes and it Cost $80 to cover them you said your son needs shoes " i thought about that a moment. Yes but when the same feet were All Over the furniture and never on the floor they became my son s feet not always he laughed nervously. And when he stepped in something disgusting they were always my son s feet to clean off. Always make your i am saying i said that you can t have one part one Day and Trade it off the next. Do you want the hair or not if you say yes remember he s your son when his hair is Down to his shoulders and he s your son saturday february 18, 1989 when it s Short. Make up your ill think about it. What else is up for grabs he s always my son when he s out of a that seems reasonable said my husband. You always seem to have so much you always said that when he was throwing up. I bought it then but i m not buying it now. Besides we had the children together. Why can t we both be parents when they screw up it s a shared responsibility. We re in this together. After Allisn t sacrifice what being a Parent is All about the phone rang. Our son wanted to be picked up at the Airport. He had been skiing and had a few hours before he took off at Midnight and thought he d kill them in the bosom of his family. My husband and i looked at each other. Then we turned to our other son and said he s your brother c 1989 Erma Bombeck the stars and stripes Page 17
