By Doug Striker bio
When you hear the words “artificial intelligence,” you likely think of a TV robot that has learned its owners’ food preferences, schedules, musical tastes and even moods. (Where is Rosie the Robot when you need her?!) But in real life, artificial intelligence often looks and smells like normal technology. The difference is that today’s AI enables computers and other devices to perform tasks that we have typically only assigned to humans. (Tasks that humans typically hate and also typically botch.)
In the legal world, think: document proofreading, editing, defining terms, creating references, building citations lists and more. Ohhhhh, wait, did I just hear you groan? Are those many of the tasks that make you want to bang your head against your desk like a judge bangs a gavel?
Then you, my friend, are going to love what AI can do for you.
Litigation Companion
As an example, allow me to trot out my friends at Litera Microsystems. (I wrote a blog a few months ago about some of their more helpful tools for lawyers. Check it out here.)
Litera Microsystems has a product called “Litigation Companion” and it is designed specifically for litigators, who are frequently (continuously?) buried by the paperwork that they must generate. Under such an intense workload with so many looming deadlines (did you file that on time?), it’s no wonder that the document editing process is loaded with angst and fear (mistakes can ruin a case!).
Enter Litigation Companion, which can:
- Analyze: Review your entire document with one click and view proofreading issues in a consolidated dashboard.
- Check defined terms, cross-references, and citations: Quickly review defined terms, references, and citations to ensure validity, accuracy, consistency, and clarity.
- Fix mistakes: Locate and remedy mistakes such as unpaired quotations marks, spacing variations, inconsistent numbering, phrases, and case-specific information.
You can even add a product called “Citationware” to Litigation Companion. Citationware generates impeccable tables of authority with one click and it double-checks all citations.
Are those tears of happiness that I see streaming down your face? But wait, there’s more!
DocXtools
Litera Microsystems also offers a tool that helps non-litigators. DocXtools assists in the review and delivery of documents, taking time and risk out of the process. And the beautiful part is that DocXtools functions as a toolbar on your MS Word platform so it integrates smoothly into the work and protocols that you already follow.
DocXtools can:
- Analyze: Analyze your document to discover problem areas.
- Clean up and repair: Quickly fix document instabilities with tools ranging from Quick Clean to Rebuild Document.
- Style: Apply comprehensive style and branding to any document with one click.
- Compare and cross-reference: Enhance the compare functionality built into MS Word, or utilize integration with Change-Pro to compare every element within a document.
DocXtools has been proven to reduce the time that firms spend on repairing and styling documents by 50%, and it also increases accuracy. In the end, that positively affects the firm’s bottom line.
Tools are only as good as the people using them
If you’re considering any of the Litera Microsystems tools, I encourage you to add “training” to your purchase budget. You wouldn’t set a robot loose in your house without learning how to operate it, would you? Similarly, make sure that you learn how to operate these smart tools to their maximum capacity. Just because you load it onto your computer doesn’t mean you’ll know how to use it.
| Editor’s picks: | ||
 How document automation can save you thousands
|
 5 benefits of rules-based calendaring software |
 Reduce your risk of malpractice claims with a centralized calendar system |