Industry leaders expand relationship providing access to Reveal's AI technology to Epiq clients globally Reveal, a groundbreaking eDiscovery technology company, and Epiq, a global leader in the legal services industry, today announced a global enterprise license agreement for the use of Reveal's artificial intelligence technology. The new enterprise license provides all Epiq clients with expanded access to Reveal's artificial intelligence platform with Reveal's recently announced acquisition of NexLP, a leader in the legal artificial intelligence space. Reveal's artificial intelligence platform turns disparate, unstructured data into meaningful insights that can be used to deliver operational efficiencies and strategic advantages for use with eDiscovery cases and Investigations. "Epiq is excited to partner with Reveal as it expands its analytics and artificial intelligence offering through the acquisition of NexLP, a long standing and highly strategic partner of Epiq," said Doug Mazlish, SVP, strategic alliances. "We are looking forward to continuing to provide our clients best in class legal technology solutions in partnership with Reveal. Reveal's investment in NexLP will further fuel their innovation in artificial intelligence in the legal industry and allow Epiq to continue to be an innovation leader in the market."

In this special guest feature, Stewart Dunlop, a content manager working with LegalZoom, highlights the fact that artificial intelligence has been predicted to be of value to many different industries, and perhaps one of the most feasible applications will be within legal services. This is due to several factors, which will be explained further in the article, but perhaps the most important is the fact that one of AI's biggest strengths is data collection and analysis. Stewart is a full-time content writer and part-time footballer and reader. Artificial intelligence has been predicted to be of value to many different industries, and perhaps one of the most feasible applications will be within legal services. This is due to several factors, which we will explain further in the article, but perhaps the most important is the fact that one of AI's biggest strengths is data collection and analysis.

The term "artificial intelligence" conjures different meanings depending upon one's perspective. If you are Elon Musk of Tesla fame, you view artificial intelligence in apocalyptical terms, as something that could lead to "a fleet of artificial intelligence-enhanced robots capable of destroying mankind." While we hope it will not be lethal, the increasing use of artificial intelligence in the legal services industry poses its own challenges. Law firms accustomed to using lawyers to perform certain tasks are now encountering technology, including artificial intelligence, that can perform tasks in seconds or minutes rather than the hours spent by a human counterpart. Although there are a growing number of firms using alternative fee arrangements, the majority of law firms continue to rely upon the billable hour as the source of their revenues.

Machine Learning, a subset of Artificial Intelligence has been growing in the last 5 years. The intersection of advanced software and acceleration in hardware capabilities has provided an inflection point for AI systems. Evidently, AI systems can now learn faster, predict with more accuracy and perform tasks that they haven't tried yet. AI and ML is a natural solution for any knowledge-driven industry wherein a large amount of new data is repeatedly produced. New data requires standardization, classification, summarization and storage, all of which are tasks best suited for AI/ML implementation.

Dr George Beaton is a partner in beaton and a senior fellow in Melbourne Law School, Australia. His published works include NewLaw New Rules – A Conversation About the Future of the Legal Services Industry (2013) and Remaking Law Firms: Why & How (2016). You have been a pioneer in research into NewLaw, what place does technology have in NewLaw? Is it central to its development? Just 18 months ago when I wrote Fresh thinking on the evolving BigLaw–NewLaw taxonomy little mention was made of the role of technology in NewLaw or BigLaw business model firms.