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Looking Forward: Forecasting Technology Developments in the Legal System, Redux

It’s about two years since my first forecast column for Slaw, and as the future is always rising to meet us, I thought I would do an updated version as we approach 2023.

Sarah spoke at Refugee Law Lab, based at York University’s Centre for Refugee Studies and Osgoode Hall Law School, September 21, 2022

Sarah gave an online seminar titles “Primary Law as Legal Data” at the Refugee Law Lab, based at York University’s Centre for Refugee Studies and Osgoode Hall Law School, on September 21, 2022. Here’s the session description: Researchers are looking for opportunities for leveraging the primary law as data. This work is anticipated to be … Continued

Sarah spoke at the Australian Law Librarians’ Association (ALLA) Conference, Hobart, Tasmania, August 26, 2022

Sarah gave a talk titled “Issues with Using Primary Law as Data” at the Australian Law Librarians’ Association (ALLA) Conference in Hobart, Tasmania, on August 26, 2022. Here’s the session description: Researchers and developers are actively looking for opportunities for leveraging the primary law as data. This work is anticipated to be transformational for legal … Continued

The Case for Algorithmic Skepticism in Law

Algorithms have become ubiquitous in our society, yet they are widely misunderstood. Many of these misunderstandings arise from widespread lack of understanding of the technical basis for what algorithms are and how they function, but even experts often don’t understand how they work, only that they do in many situations. This lack of understanding means … Continued

Sarah spoke at the American Association of Law Libraries Conference in Denver, Colorado on July 17, 2022

Sarah spoke on a panel titled “Law Librarian as Algorithmic Skeptic” at the American Association of Law Libraries Conference in Denver, Colorado on July 17, 2022 with Sarah Lamdan from CUNY Law School, and Kim Nayyer from Cornell Law Library. Susan Nevelow Mart who was also scheduled to speak couldn’t attend, though her comments were … Continued

Excerpt from Legal Data and Information in Practice published in Journal of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & Law

A book chapter titled “The Law and Politics of Legal Data” was published in the July-August 2022 (volume 5, issue 4) of Journal of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & Law published by Fastcase’s Full Court Press. This is a closed publication, but it can be accessed on HeinOnline for those with access.

Sarah spoke at Continuing Legal Education Society of BC’s course Data Analytics for Lawyers 2022 on June 27, 2022

Sarah gave a presentation titled “Primary Law as Data” at Continuing Legal Education Society of BC’s course Data Analytics for Lawyers 2022 on June 27, 2022. The session covered the following: what is law from a data perspective? how does the structure of the law and legal systems affect its use as data? so what … Continued

Sarah spoke at the Canadian Association of Law Libraries’ conference held online May 31 – June 4, 2022

Sarah spoke on two panel presentations at the Canadian Association of Law Libraries Conference which was held online May 31 – June 4, 2022. The sessions covered the following: What’s it Worth? Rethinking the Value of Information Services & Professionals, presented with Kimberly Silk and Wendy Reynolds In a climate of increasing costs and diminishing … Continued

Some Thoughts on Algorithmic and Data Literacy

Last year I was interviewed by Dominique Garingan for her dissertation on algorithmic literacy, and thought I would share my thoughts that arose in relation to that conversation with you here

Valuing lawyers’ work

The problem with the billable hour is that it’s a proxy for revenue and profit and, as such, a poor way to measure value. The billable hour has been held up as the source for many ills in the legal industry. Critics primarily blame it for encouraging a culture of excessive work that does not … Continued