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Daily Archives: June 11, 2018

The Face of Legal Technology in 2018

The Face of Legal Technology in 2018 (and What it Means for the Future of Access to Justice) By Kristen Sonday, Paladin Updated: May 8, 2018.
“Introduction – In recent years, a curious paradox has emerged: There is far more legal technology being built than ever before, yet somehow, the access to justice (ATJ) gap in America keeps widening. In an age of natural disasters, politically charged immigration measures, an opioid epidemic (for which the Legal Services Corporation recently created a task force) and a housing emergency, the United States is facing a bona fide ATJ crisis. Right now, a whopping 86% of low-income Americans who need legal assistance never receive it—a shocking statistic that disproportionately affects women, immigrants, and minorities…Employing the first ever data-driven analysis of legaltech companies and their founders, I present two crucial (and until now, anecdotal) root causes:
1. Lack of representation from diverse communities within legaltech; and
2. Lack of focus by legaltech on problems that affect access to justice…”

Nature investigates how many papers really end up without a single citation

The science that’s never been cited – [but may be viewed and downloaded] “…To get a better handle on this dark and forgotten corner of published research, Nature dug into the figures to find out how many papers actually do go uncited (the methods are available in the Supplementary information). It is impossible to know… Continue Reading

Mapping the World’s Coal Capacity

Center for Data Innovation: “Climate news publication Carbon Brief has created several data visualizations mapping the location and capacity of the world’s coal power plants. An interactive timeline map allows users to scroll from 2000-2017 to see where plants are operating, opening, and have closed. The maps illustrate that the world’s coal capacity has nearly… Continue Reading

More than $82 million in outside income earned in 2017 by Kushner and Ivanka

Washington Post: “Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the president’s daughter and son-in-law, brought in at least $82 million in outside income while serving as senior White House advisers during 2017, according to new financial disclosure forms released Monday. Ivanka Trump earned $3.9 million from her stake in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, while Kushner reported over… Continue Reading

Supreme Court’s conservative justices uphold Ohio’s voter purge system

Vox: “The US Supreme Court on Monday upheld Ohio’s system for purging voters from the rolls. The Court split 5-4 along partisan lines, with the five conservative-leaning justices, in a majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, upholding the system and the four liberal-leaning justices opposing it. The ruling focused in large part on technical interpretations… Continue Reading

Amazon Slammed for Destroying As-New and Returned Goods

Fortune: “Amazon is destroying “massive amounts” of as-new and returned items in Germany, according to a report from business weekly WirtschaftsWoche and news show Frontal 21. The types of items being destroyed here go way beyond the “health and personal care” products that Amazon has long been destroying when people return them, for sanitary reasons.… Continue Reading

DOJ Defending Trump’s Ability To Profit From Foreign Officials Staying At His Hotel

BuzzFeed: “The Justice Department argued Monday that President Donald Trump could continue to profit from foreign governments patronizing his hotel in Washington, DC, without violating the US Constitution, as long as he didn’t explicitly provide something in return. The fact that foreign officials were quoted in media reports saying they would spend money at the… Continue Reading

Here Are 18 Things You Might Not Have Realized Facebook Tracks About You

BuzzFeed: “When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress in April in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, he said he’d have his team follow up on questions he couldn’t answer in full during the hearing. On Monday, Congress released a massive document with written answers to those questions. These responses were a good… Continue Reading