Intelligent Document Processing Software

[William D Rich r1wdr@xxxxxxxx]

It's taken me a while to get around to this reply, and I've taken
the liberty of changing the Subject from killing lawyers:

On Wed, 5 Apr 1995 kfrank@xxxxxxxx wrote:

> I am especially pleased to hear that your Law School uses
XyWrite because one > of the focuses of this company going
forward is on what we call "Intelligent > Document Processing".
By that, we mean building the capability into our > products to
absorb and apply intelligence or experience about the >
relationships between data (or facts) and words, enabling
documents to > dynamically draft and redraft themselves to
reflect the current state of the > relevant facts affecting the
document or documents the user is working on.
> As you can imagine, this has special relevance in markets like
the legal > market because of the intense word and relatively
"rule based" environments in > which many lawyers operate.

Yes. I think there is tremendous potential in this area -- both
market potential (not nearly as large a potential customer base
as for word processors, of course, but still quite substantial)
and technical potential (though I don't consider myself an expert
in this field -- I'm primarily a constitutional law teacher). It
also raises interesting theoretical questions at the intersection
of law (jurisprudence) and information technology.

> In fact we have a DOS version of such a system which is
marketed under the > name "General Counsel" and we recently
released a Trusts and Estates > application authored by two
nationally known estate planning experts which > automatically
evaluates the efficacy of any number of estate planning >
strategies for each client, preparing detailed research memos
(10-50 pages) > for the attorney using the system, and also
drafts virtually every type of > estate planning document. In
the process, the user is led through an > interactive question
and answer dialog in which detailed substantive > explanations
are available, including citations etc., for every decision the
> user is called upon to make.

In fact, my colleague here who teaches Estate Planning uses and
likes TTG's Trusts and Estates software.

> We have developed this line of products with as much emphasis
on its > educational aspects as its document preparation
capabilities. While I was > practicing law, I taught a course
at the University of Maryland Law School for > ten years, I
believe there is a great deal of potential for this technology >
for actual teaching in law schools.

I agree. Has TTG been in contact with the Center for Computer
Assisted Legal Instruction? They're one of the conduits by
which information about that sort of technology is conveyed to
legal academics.
 > If you would like to learn more about what we are doing
please let me know.

Yes, I would, though my field is probably one of the most remote
from those in which the technology is being developed. I am
interested in general trends and am also in a position to give
information to colleagues who might have use for various
products.

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|Bill Rich
  |
|Associate Professor of Law        Internet:
Rich@xxxxxxxx |
|The University of Akron School of Law   Voice:   (216)
972-6792 |
|Akron, OH 44325-2901           Fax:    (216)
258-2343 |
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