Data Science and Law are in a lot of ways vastly different; however they do have a few things in common: both professions rely heavily on historical data and patterns . Certain supervening phenomena can cause a break in these patterns; these distinct deviations from a learned practice (either by a machine learning algorithm or through pure human experience) can be problematic.

Those of us in Legal Modelling know that when building and maintaining models we are constantly looking…

Using the Genalg Package in R to optimize Legal Fees. This is a Lesson from our Data Science for Lawyers Workshops (Moderately Advanced).

We'd appreciate any Feed Back, especially from non-Lawyers!.…

This is a lesson  from one of our Data Science for Lawyers Workshops (Moderately Advanced)…

I became a Data Science practitioner in probably the most peculiar, counter-intuitive way of becoming one. Before being confronted by the embroidered Python or R dilemma, before being exposed to Data Analytics Platforms, Math and Statistical…

Sometimes I don’t trust Data Science, probably because my duty of care is more pronounced on account of working mostly in Legal Analytics. You see as an Analytics Practitioner in the Legal field my Data Science methodology cannot afford to yield…

In my final year of Law School I…

Someone on twitter once remarked that law cannot be reduced to algorithm; he was commenting on my article “Alchemy and Algorithmic Lawyers”, he said that it was “impossible”. As a means of substantiating his claim he added that he had more than twenty years experience as a scientist and programmer. Personally I prefer to not make very grand, generalized claims of impossibility. Simply because impossibility is a fallacy that people create as an opium to…

On the face of it, Analytics and Law are manifestly divergent fields of practice. One need only consider the nature of Algorithms that require numerical attributes for their calculations and the textual rigidity of substantive law to realize this. The very first obstacle one will encounter in applying Analytics to Law is the absence of calculable numerical variables in raw legal data. No judicial precedent, statute or common law principle has ever been reduced to a mathematically sound…

Alchemy is a fascinating pseudo-science, long discredited as a real science; its fundamental principles still form the basis of many contemporary scientific theories. Alchemy is based on the premise that nothing in the universe is devoid of existential elements, and that these elements can be manipulated and even transmuted into other forms. The fabled Philosopher’s Stone is said to fulfil one of the main objectives of Alchemy, a legendary Alchemical substance said to be capable of turning…