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LITIGATION SUPPORT - BEYOND DATA RETRIEVAL

NCJ Number
44586
Journal
FEDERAL BAR NEWS Volume: 24 Issue: 12 Dated: (DECEMBER 1977) Pages: 332-334
Author(s)
J I KEANE
Date Published
1977
Length
3 pages
Annotation
DEVELOPMENTS IN COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR THE LITIGATION PROCESS ARE DISCUSSED.
Abstract
TWO TRENDS IN COMPUTERIZED LITIGATION SUPPORT ARE DISCERNIBLE: APPLICATION OF THE COMPUTER'S ORGANIZATIONAL AND RETRIEVAL CAPACITIES TO SMALLER AND SMALLER CASES; AND INNOVATIVE USES OF THE COMPUTER'S ANALYTICAL POWER. DEVELOPMENTS IN CODING TECHNIQUES AND QUERY FORMULATION HAVE MADE IT POSSIBLE TO HARNESS THE COMPUTER'S POWER DESPITE THE SUBTLETIES OF LANGUAGE. REFINEMENT OF SEARCH TECHNIQUES AND THE PROLIFERATION OF OFFICE TERMINALS MADE COMPUTERIZED LITIGATION SUPPORT MORE ACCESSIBLE TO ATTORNEYS. SCIENTISTS HAVE BEGUN TO RELY ON COMPUTERS NOT SIMPLY TO SPEED UP PROCESSES BUT ALSO TO ADD QUALITATIVE DIMENSIONS TO THEM. ALTHOUGH THE DATA ASSEMBLED FOR TRIALS ARE NOT 'HARD DATA,' TOOLS ARE BEING BUILT TO DEAL WITH NATURAL LANGUAGE AND TEXT FILES THAT WILL AID IN THE ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX LEGAL INFORMATION. ECONOMETRIC MODELING IS ONE TECHNIQUE THAT ALREADY HAS BEEN ADAPTED TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF LITIGATION. A NUMBER OF HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED COMPUTER TECHNIQUES ARE AVAILABLE BUT NOT YET APPLIED TO LITIGATION OR INVESTIGATION PROCESSES. USING THE COMPUTER TO ANALYZE LITIGATION FILES FOR DISCOVERY AND PRETRIAL STRATEGY PURPOSES IS THE NEXT PHASE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF AUTOMATED LITIGATION SUPPORT. THE ABILITY TO MANIPULATE THE PLOTLINE OF A LARGE-SCALE CONSPIRACY, TO TEST ALTERNATIVE CASE THEORIES, AND TO MATCH STATEMENTS AGAINST EVENTS AS THE TRIAL TRANSCRIPT DEVELOPS WILL OPEN UP NEW AVENUES FOR TRIAL ADVOCACY.

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