“When legal services are standardized and computerized, talented lawyers will be called upon in large numbers to organize and model vast amounts of complex legal materials and processes. The law will have to be analyzed, condensed and then captured as standard working practices and embodied in computer systems. […]
The development of legal rules and procedures and the organization and representation of legal knowledge in information systems are predictably a work of legal research and analysis.
[…] If a modern legal firm wants to compete on the basis of first-class standards and systems, it must have first-class lawyers committed to building them. These lawyers will be legal knowledge engineers”.
In his far-sighted book ‘The End of Lawyers’, Richard Susskind hypothesized the rise of new types of lawyers including, ‘a legal knowledge engineer‘, who combines legal knowledge with technological skills.
Legal Engineering is based on this concept, combining legal design, data science, legal expertise and technology to rethink the way legal services can be delivered. Legal Engineering is a strongly result-oriented process starting with an understanding of what you want to achieve and the obstacles along the path to get there.
This approach requires a very open and innovative mindset that allows one to think transversally to understand how to achieve the result in the most efficient and forceful way and a team that combines data science, design thinking, technology and legal knowledge.
The application potential of Legal Engineering is broad and very diverse; it is applicable to processes that characterize large international groups as well as small innovative start-ups. Legal Engineering is a further distinguishing feature of the ‘Aiternalex method’.
Data Science is a broad and multidisciplinary field that aims at analyzing raw data to extract information in order to identify trends, patterns, connections and correlations in large data sets. All these data offer unprecedented opportunities for companies of all sectors, research institutes or the public sector.
Based on these analyses, it is possible to create innovative new products and services, solve real problems and improve performance as well as make decisions based on data rather than mere intuition.
Like any innovation involving the use of Data, Data Science poses considerable challenges in terms of legal compliance by constantly analyzing the ways in which data is acquired, the purposes for which it is acquired and the ways in which it is processed. Often, these aspects are put on the back burner during the design phase, leading to results that at best cannot be put into use.
To remedy these negative consequences legal engineering intervenes, assisting the process of fundamental and/or industrial research and experimental development by contributing to the creation of processes whose results are fully compliant with regulations and ready for the next stage up to go-to-market.
Undoubtedly one of the most popular innovations since the advent of the century blockchain is addressed on the front pages of newspapers and is emblazoned in online publications in its most widespread declinations, i.e. with emphasis on coin-related aspects as well as NFT, tokens in general and sometimes in reference to the play-to-earn paradigm.
Certainly, reflection on these topics represents a nodal moment in this technology, but it often ends up monopolizing its analysis, defusing all its innovative potential.
The Innovation Law department of Aiternalex is strongly oriented towards the different possible uses of blockchain and over the years has guided the choices of its clients by introducing its legal engineering value into their decision-making processes. This method has allowed them to anticipate and avoid problems such as, for example, the possible barriers to market entry created by the jungle of regulations that characterizes specific sectors such as gaming/gambling and finance.
Once again, in this sector too, legal engineering allows us to steer clients’ choices towards a stable present and hence enable them to build a better future.
The growing importance of artificial intelligence (AI) systems in everyday life and the evolving ability of these systems to process data and act without human intervention raise important legal and ethical concerns.
AI has already had and will increasingly have a profound impact on human beings, coming to change our daily lives. Faced with this scenario, it is also necessary to investigate the ethical and legal dimensions of AI. Future professionals need to be fully aware of the ethical and legal frameworks applicable to AI.
When developing an AI legal engineering plan, it is crucial to identify the three main AI players in the value chain (innovators, suppliers and users) and three main types of AI (automation, augmentation and autonomy). Once the main actors have been identified, it is essential to outline the responsibilities in AI innovation from the perspective of possible strict liability claims arising from the development, marketing and use of products with integrated AI capabilities.
The fourth industrial revolution has an amazing potential to solve many of humanity’s problems, but it has also brought a host of new threats.
The challenge is to find a way to mitigate the negative aspects of the ongoing revolution without compromising the extraordinary potential of innovative technologies. Especially in the field of AI, Innovation Ethics offers a possible solution by providing ideal targets on the role of AI, replacing them with compliance standards that, as happened before, run the risk of becoming obsolete already at the pre-adoption stage.
The ethical perspective is important because, at the moment, the law is ready to fall behind the technological reality, if it has not already done so. Considering liability issues alongside ethical perspectives allows for a more nuanced assessment of the likely consequences and negative impacts of AI innovation. Such an approach ensures that companies consider both legal and ethical strategies within a single development environment that also focuses on corporate liability and ways to limit it.