Lots of fun this week on The Hearing Podcast with my colleague Andrew Fletcher, Director at the Thomson Reuters Labs. If you enjoy uncovering what the future (and the now) of the legal industry might look like, take a listen. We toss aside the fluff, and meet at the cross section of AI, APIs, Design Thinking, Innovation, and how it all impacts the legal industry.
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Originally published in the Legal Executive Institute.
By Joseph Raczynski
NEW YORK — With increasing data flow among global financial institutions expanding, compounded by newly minted hybrid financial organizations in FinTech, managing these highly regulated transactions is progressively more complicated.
A panel at last week’s LegalWeek 2020 explored the anti-money laundering (AML) trends in 2020, discussed the state of legal artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in AML compliance and screening, and described a case study where AI has been successfully deployed in combating financial crimes.
Panelist Cassie Lentchner, Senior Counsel at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, kick-started the discussion by bringing up the topic of regulatory expectations. The premise she offered stated that those institutions which contemplate or currently use AI for compliance functions must employ a risk management fundamentals model. “Scoping is critical to assess the regulatory requirements and expectations,” she said.
Currently, AI can be used to automate repetitive tasks, aggregate information, cluster information into groups, and confirm or monitor information. Clearly, we are not at the point where this technology can surplant institutional judgement and decision making, just yet, Lentchner added.
Now, more regulators are wading in on how compliance departments use AI. In fact, we are at a point where some of these algorithmic applications require financial institutions to get prior written approval from regulators, said Tim Mueller, Partner in Global Investigations & Compliance at Guidehouse. During exams, Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and AML programs are being examined, and financial institutions are expected to demonstrate the AI functions being use, explain how they work, and even defend the work product to the regulator. Some defenses have withered from the regulator’s findings and from AI bias.
The panel further discussed an Intelligent Segmentation case study, diving into the pitfalls of current approaches to AML compliance and how AI solves for it. Frequently, normal banking behavior is identified as suspicious, and this includes large bank deposits and rapid money movement from one bank to another. Despite billions of dollars spent on traditional monitoring (which often ends with a human internal investigator), 95% of system-generated alerts are “false positives,” said Mueller.
The AI approach involves three phases: machine intelligence, subject matter expertise, and increased efficiency & effectiveness. In this new model, Intelligent Segmentation leverages AI and identifies segments using a collection of related datapoints beyond additional identifiers. This allows the machine to better identify groups that should be monitored together and those that should be split. Ultimately when parsing the data, the machine can see patterns or white space, thus eliminating false positives like rapid bank-to-bank transfers by trusted organizations which would have been triggered in pre-AI models and have been difficult to identify previously by human investigators.
Another AI-enabled AML compliance case study that Mueller cited is Behavioral Network Analysis. With most compliance departments, the typical approach is to monitor suspicious activity by deploying rule-based detection scenarios, for example, collecting if-then-else logical statements. These new AI-generated systems make it possible to create a “contextual monitoring” approach that leverages Behavior Network Analysis and allows it to review entities and their interconnected relationships and transactions. This has proven to be very effective, especially in trade and financial market businesses, explained Mueller.
Now, more regulators are wading in on how compliance departments use AI. In fact, we are at a point where some of these algorithmic applications require financial institutions to get prior written approval from regulators.
Another panelist, Dr. Sam Small, Chief Security Officer of ZeroFOX, said that based on his background in academic security research, he had uncovered the ease in which social media can be co-opted through impersonation, account takeover, piracy, threats of violence, fraud, and misinformation. Fortunately, he added, there are ways to counter it. Small’s AI approach dissects social media accounts by parsing the information within these accounts at large scale. In this way, the model can break down and characterize social media accounts into the following components: media content, avatars, name and username, text content, hashtags, dates, actions, and URLs.
Then, the model delves into each component: Are URLs safe? Are hashtags benign or seemingly suspicious? Each piece can be poured over, using highly tailored algorithms to uncover dubious activity and allowing the account users a way to fight back, Small explained.
The thrust of the panel’s conversation proved that AI will be omnipresent for compliance with AML and fraud amid the explosion of global financial data. The universal agreement among the panelists was that the guiding principles to need to gain acceptance from regulators, internal audit, and compliance department leadership include using proven, defendable technology, being transparent, and augmenting processes that you have in place.
The rapidly changing landscape of financial data compels compliance organizations to adopt these tenants or be willing to incur real risks for their company if they do not.
I have been incredibly fortunate to have traveled extensively, which has impacted my global vision. Visiting almost 40 countries, I have witnessed firsthand the enormous discrepancies in wealth, opportunities, and lifestyles that exist around the world today.
I’ve seen the lavish gilded rooms, complete with Picassos on the wall, in the homes of 35-year-old billionaires in Dubai; and just a five-hour flight away, I’ve seen families hover around an open fire to stay warm alongside their metal sheet home on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal, in the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains. And I’ve observed the steep mountain face of the drug-scared city of Medellin, Colombia — a concrete jungle with the activity of an ant hill. I’ve walked the rural farmlands of Cambodia, which are still littered with signs for landmines, and seen some children showing the stark evidence of their life-changing encounters with these mines; and I have wandered the extremely remote rain forest of Panama with its indigenous people.
The one element that buoys my spirits besides the genuine kindness of people, the promise of technology and our future.
One unexpected item that is omnipresent for both the wealthy and the less fortunate — a mobile phone. This is likely the most significant key to empowering people; and with a mobile phone, people around the world can connect, share ideas, and exchange money.
Joseph Raczynski will be speaking at the World Bank’s Law, Justice and Development Week 2019: Rights, Technology & Development in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 4-7.
Now, I am also seeing that connectivity energizing people’s legal liberties and human rights. We are evolving to a point where each person around the world has a computer in their pocket. Through this technological leapfrogging, a high school student in a remote village of Cambodia can be almost technologically on par with her counterpart in Amsterdam.
Exponential growth globally
Way back in 2015 I wrote about how we are entering a phase of Exponential Growth, and how that will impact the legal industry. What is evident now, however, is that this growth is not solely for the global law firms in the Western world, but is cascading to individuals in the most remote parts of the globe. Most importantly, we see how they will be able to take advantage of legal services which previously were nearly impossible.
Increasingly available chatbots empowered with Artificial Intelligence can now offer improved access to justice, helping people make decisions or even seek asylum. These applications, which are essentially legal workflow tools, can generate questions and answers via a mobile phone from anywhere in the world.
Further, blockchain is already impacting trust with small businesses. A family-run business in Argentina that enters into an agreement with a distributor can do so via a legally binding contract supported by smart contract technology securely saved to a blockchain. If a problem arises, for a small amount of money, arbitrators around the world can weigh in and help resolve the issue, all enabled through a mobile device.
The power of blockchain and AI is at work in Africa, where a farmer can opt into an insurance program on their phone. With as little as a dollar placed toward insurance, if the farmers crops don’t survive a drought, AI-powered satellite imagery can automatically pay those affected. Combing smart contracts on a blockchain with the AI-image recognition technology, people previously without legally binding contracts to support their business can sustain themselves. These types of significant changes will impact people positively.
I am extremely optimistic and passionate about our future, as technology-infused legal processes filter into all communities around the world. This new age will lift people out of poverty, reduce domestic violence and hunger, and improve the lives of people globally. With the technological power of a mobile phone and legal solutions infused by AI and blockchain emerging, there is a bright spot for all of us on the horizon.
For more on the World Bank’s upcoming event, listen to a podcast with Sandie Okoro, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at the World Bank, conducted by Thomson Reuters’ Joseph Raczynski.
Originally published on the Legal Executive Institute
By Joseph Raczynski
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Government sector strives to ramp up its efforts to more widely integrate cutting edge technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT), it is running into a myriad of challenges.
Not the least among them, is separating the reality from the hype of these miracle tech solutions.
At Thomson Reuters 4th Annual Government Day, panel attempted this separation by focusing on blockchain, working to uncover the reality of this technology today for governments and cut out the hype of this innovative technology.
Government supply chain management
One area the panel focused on with blockchain is the tech’s potential to change supply chain management, offering a scenario in which a state or federal agency needs to identify the ground zero genesis of a fruit or vegetable foodborne illnesses. The newest proof of concepts utilizes a blockchain-enabled IoT supply chain management technology ecosystem that can save lives by greatly reducing the time it takes to track contaminated tomato from the salad bar back though delivery, distributers, wholesalers, to pickers and finally to the farm.
The panel also discussed how a Massachusetts-based farmer could partner with a technologist to track his tomatoes from vine to fork. The farmer uses IoT temperature gages from the pickers to the platers. This is an example of a public and private partnership where produce with clear data on temperature, handlers, and distributers can be audited through the entire supply chain, all supported on a distributed ledger.
Harnessing this collection of technologies, any listeria outbreak can reduce seven days of research to just seven minutes, ensuring that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have rapid response and control.
Sovereign identity
Another area the panel discussed included identity management solutions. Breeches to our own private information are commonplace. In fact, recently Facebook suffered yet another attack where 200 million users’ phone numbers were found in a publicly facing open database, including the number of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. (In case you are wondering, calling Mr. Zuckerberg’s phone number goes to a generic voicemail.)
Not surprisingly given the stakes, various federal agencies have been surveilling this space for some time. An emerging concept about how to prevent such breaches and other identity security mishaps in the future is taking form.
The panel also took up the “radical” idea that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could issue a new unique identifier to replace a citizen’s Social Security Number (SSN). In a major shift, this identifier would exist on a blockchain. This decentralize system would place the control of the identifying number into the hands of the individual, removing a central repository, which could be hacked.
Panelist Alan Cohn, a partner at Steptoe & Johnson, pointed out how this could more securely enable our current voting system, curtailing the chance of fraud and make voting easier for all.
Digital assets
Finally, the panel explored the shifting landscape of digital assets. Cohn said he expects a huge swing in the way we look at assets from a personal perspective and in how the government views it.
The panel concluded that with Facebook launching its own cryptocurrency, Libra, this process has been legitimized. The discussion amped up around what will happen next. I suggested to the panel that Libra could be dead in the water in the United States because of a heightened regulatory concern, but this blockchain-enabled asset cannot be placed back into the bottle. Indeed, with years of consternation ahead from regulators on Libra, companies around the globe will move forward, and the next organization to create what amounts to a world currency will be a messenger app which has 500 million users, Telegram. (Expect its launch before Halloween 2019.)
In all likelihood, governments around the world will be spooked by the immense power an app founded in 2013 will create. They will have a scalable, frictionless asset with features that could bypass anti-money laundering (AML) rules and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations.
Panel moderator Jason Thomas, Manager of Innovation at Thomson Reuters, and panelist Gail Gottehrer, of the Law Office of Gail Gottehrer, noted that there is significant promise ahead with the intermixing of multiple technologies in combination with blockchain. Indeed, governments are beginning to adopt and adapt in this environment; and with a push from the private sector, state and federal agencies will continue to adjust.
The synthesis of technologies like IoT, AI, and blockchain will create processes which should stamp out farm- and distribution-based foodborne illnesses. New initiatives around the security of personally identifiable information through blockchain will place the control of information into an individual’s hands, removing central points of failure and reducing costly and damaging data breaches.
Lastly, one of the most significant changes ahead is the look and feel of our ownership of assets when everything becomes digital. The opportunity is immense, but so are the concerns around our government’s ability to counter AML as assets become increasingly liquid and frictionless across the globe.
Originally published on Legal Insights UK & Ireland
By Joseph Raczynski, edits, questions and preface by Ann Lundin and Joe Davis.
Artificial intelligence will threaten most jobs at some point soon—and new jobs will emerge’
The impact of innovative technology is undoubtedly going to radically reshape the delivery of legal services in the years ahead. To help consider the extent of this impact within the legal industry – and indeed, the current state of play, Legal Insights UK & Ireland spoke to Technologist and Futurist at Thomson Reuters, Joe Raczynski.
Tell us something about Joe Raczynski. You have been labelled as a ‘super geek’. How did you achieve this unique status?
It’s actually ‘Sir Super Geek of the Square Table’—as the Queen kindly bestowed recently. More seriously, I am very fortunate. My personal passions and professional career have spectacularly collided. Since I was young I would tinker with electronics, including building a home security system from spare computer parts, penetration testing networks as a white hat hacker, building websites and eventually fiddling with all things computer and technology related. For me, pure satisfaction is derived from being an early adopter of a technology, immersing myself in it, and then sharing that with others—ultimately seeing their eyes grow in amazement, interest and most importantly extrapolation. I still recall describing ‘digital cash’, e.g. Bitcoin, in 2011 to friends and seeing their awe and skepticism. On the other side, I bought Google Glass and trumpeted its potential, until the overwhelming collective societal shame forced them back into their box. The technology in a more robust form will return in a few years, I promise.
Tell us about your role at Thomson Reuters.
I oversee a wonderfully nimble team of technical client managers. Our collective goal is bifurcated. Part one is to assure that all our (80-plus) Thomson Reuters Legal products and services work well for our customers. Part two, which is ever growing, is sitting down with our customers across law firms, corporations, and government agencies to understand their technology initiatives. We are able to see the trends across the various facets of our legal customers, and serve as technology evangelists to share those insights with our customers. Historically, we have also listened to them about where ‘tool gaps’ lie, and either code those solutions ourselves, or work with the larger Thomson Reuters to build solutions.
Does the progressive development of AI and robots threaten your job or anyone else’s? If so, how soon?
AI will threaten most jobs at some point soon, mine included but a tad further out. Anything repeatable, routine, or even easy to adapt to ‘if then’ statements, will be impacted. Many of the traditional services positions will fade away first: drivers, wait staff, store clerks, and then some professional positions, such as project managers, will be next. Mentally, we all need to prepare for this eventuality. The positive is that new industries will evolve which haven’t been invented yet, which will spur new jobs.
How is AI currently disrupting the legal industry?
In the legal space, you can already see it on the eDiscovery front. Eight years ago, new lawyers might be tasked with document review spending 80 hours a week. Now law firms need far fewer eyes reviewing documents, because of AI infused tools. Document automation tools like Contract Express or Drafting Assistant make law firms much more efficient by replicating and modifying exemplar documents with ease. Those firms that adapt soonest, will be best positioned moving forward.
What do you make of law firms engaging more directly with incubators/tech start-ups?
There are several things afoot. Law firms traditionally were technology risk adverse, but that is rapidly changing. The first tug on the law firm are clients asking for them to be more agile forcing new mindsets. Another pull is that law firms tend to be a highly profitable industry, and for that reason small companies have now cast their gaze on their large margins. You have hundreds of new start-ups seizing upon niches of the legal business, be it the practice or business of law. Lastly, law firms are seeing the above and deciding to band together with start-ups to test the waters on new products and services. This has a secondary purpose, it also better positions the firm as forward thinking for new clients.
How do UK and US large law firms’ attitude differ in their receptiveness to new legal technology, and willingness to invest?
I have seen a wide variety of responses on adoption of legal technology at US law firms. Recently one firm stated, ‘we are not going to invest in AI because we are an insurance firm and it will not help us’. Conversely, I have seen several large law firm tossing millions of dollars at internal initiatives to develop new tools. My experience with UK firms demonstrates a real tilt toward innovation perhaps more universally than in the US. It seems that currently the push to be more efficient in the UK surpasses that need in the US. Despite major transformative landscape changes in the US, there are clusters of firms that will not change—until forced to do so, which will likely happen within five years. In general UK firms are thinking more like a business.
Does the growing necessity to adopt time-saving, efficiency-driven legal technology put pressure on small and medium-sized law firms to invest? What will likely happen if they don’t?
Personally, I believe the medium sized firms could be best positioned with new efficiency driven legal solutions. To that end, I am starting to see medium sized firms competing against the biggest law firms. Five years ago, this wasn’t as feasible. No matter the size of the firm, they must have a keen eye to investigate the latest legal technology trends, tools, and service models. If they don’t, they will miss opportunities—and a streak of missed opportunities will lead to significant risk of survival.
By Joseph Raczynski
Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab – Cambridge MA – October 2017 – In one of the more unique and unusual conferences I have participated, the inaugural MIT Legal Forum on AI & Blockchain was a meeting of 200 minds from across academia, law firm, and corporations big and small. It included IBM Watson as well as CodeX, NASA scientists, Baker & Hostetler, a host of other Am Law firms, and startups galore. Led by the gregarious MIT visiting scientist, Daniel “Dazza” Greenwood, who served as the master of ceremonies for the two day workshop.
Dazza Greenwood – MIT Scientist – summarizing the day
What was so unusual was that after the keynote each day, the planning for the remainder of the breakouts happened in real-time. Dazza asked the crowd who would like to run a session and to describe the topic. Once that individual did so, Dazza then asked who would like to join that working session. The sessions were added to the agenda immediately followed by the commencing of those sessions. From the attendees the following topics bubbled up on day one:
I had the opportunity to join several of these discussions over the two days. Honestly there were one or two slight misses, where the tables were large and attendees from various backgrounds of familiarity on blockchain and AI led to a mixed conversation. However, the hits – they were transformative. How often do you have top legal minds from Am Law firms, NASA engineers, MIT data scientists and nonprofits mix together on a process surrounding “smart contracts” that leverage algorithms to develop an automated workflow? The session called ditDIY Composable Smart Contracts, Modular Law – led by Vienna Loi, was a hit. The NASA scientist and her team are actively building this concept out. Think of it as code (smart contract) that when a certain event is triggered kicks off another event which continues to invoke other acts, all of which are recorded and maintained on a blockchain. It is the future of this space.
The excitement was palpable. You could see the evolution that is beginning to take place in Legal as we go from a general awareness of these technologies, to conceptual design of possible solutions. MIT is fostering the creativity through this platform in their first attempt at bringing all parties to the table.
In the next post, I will dive deeper into Digital Identity using blockchains.
By Joseph Raczynski
INSOL Europe 2017 Annual Congress
Warsaw, Poland – Sofitel Victoria. Before the full contingent of 400 attendees at the INSOL Europe Annual Congress a panel of three stepped into the future of legal technology and its impact on insolvency and the courts in Europe. The panel consisted of Judge Erik Boerma – Court of the Nertherlands; Gunther Theis – CEO, STP Informationstechnologie, Germany; and Joseph Raczynski from Thomson Reuters, US; with Moderator – Joanna Goodman, United Kingdom.
Goodman introduced the session by discussing Internet 4.0 and AI, which is described as the fourth industrial revolution. The concept is that we are now in a new era which will be as impactful as the machinery that was introduced to the assembly lines of the first factories. She went on to mention that each panelist offered various perspectives on technology transformation to insolvency cases in different ways. Erik Boerma as a judge is involved in digitizing courts in The Netherlands; Gunther Thies is a tech pioneer, whose software is used by 80% of German insolvency practitioners and (since 1991) to improve coordination between practitioners and the courts, and Joseph Raczynski works on emerging technology at Thomson Reuters, specializing in assisting law firms in understanding AI and Blockchain and how they can be applied to legal services.
Goodman set the stage for the first question by stating an important event within the industry, “In the past decade – since the UK’s liberalization of the legal market via the Legal Services Act – legal services delivery everywhere has changed beyond recognition.” Goodman noted that until recently the courts were lagging behind, with arcane processes and procedures, including inflexible schedules for court dates and piles of paper. “Now at last all that is changing and many jurisdictions are involved in courts modernization projects, which include taking documentation and administrative procedures online.”
The panel first turned toward court digitization. Theis, described the current state of most courts, which are in general still struggling to deal with the pace of change and how to handle documentation and workflow. He spoke about his organization STP Informationstechnologie which develops software and related services for insolvency administrators, insolvency courts, and corporate law firms. Judge Boerma mentioned one of his projects in The Netherlands where he cited how the obvious benefits of digitization around access to justice, legal advice and information, and some less obvious challenges around ensuring that automation does not compromise human needs. That is, he attempts to adopt “a holistic strategy that balances economic, environment, and social access to legal advice, access to justice, and the human considerations in insolvency space. Goodman surmised that, “It’s about opening up information and not taking a blinkered view of cases that focuses only on the detail.”
The conversation then turned to what may be just ahead for Europe as they deal with insolvency. Goodman posed the question about how the world in general is moving online and asked Raczynski, “How personal assets, which are now going digital – from tangible to virtual – will be handled with documents in the cloud, AI technologies that improve productivity and cryptocurrencies?
Raczynski launched into an impassioned discussion around the rate of change that is happening for all of us personally and professionally. He briefly discussed the impact of algorithms which are becoming more sophisticated and intuitive. Saying these could help service up better information for attorneys and judges alike around bankruptcy. He went on to state that there will be a clear push for change in the next several years for the courts, which are lagging behind. The efficiencies, transparency and access for all will make this all but a necessity.
Goodman pushed on the digitization of assets and inquired about the Blockchain and cryptocurrencies and the impact of those on insolvency. Raczynski first described Blockchain to level set with the attendees having asked by a show of hands who felt comfortable defining the technology – not many hands were raised. Once that baseline was established, he dove into what he sees as the first “killer app” for Blockchain technology, cryptocurrency or tokens. “In the not too distance future every asset with be represented by a digital token – saved to the Blockchain.” He sees the full “tokenization of the world’s assets” including, cars, real-estate, collectibles, and these things are starting to happen now.
Clearly this struck a chord with the audience as this will be a monumental shift in how they handle insolvency cases with their clients and within the courts. He went on to discuss the positives of the Blockchain showing a history of ownership which could assist with rights to property and creditors. However, he noted, “there are challenges ahead as some of these tokens or digital coins are specifically developed to hide assets.” He summed it up by stating this is going to be a wild ride into digitization which will certainly impact the insolvency landscape.
Closing out the session, Goodman asked for final thoughts from each of the panelists. The takeaway was that everyone in every role needs to think about how technology will impact the legal industry. There are a myriad of opportunities to be had, but Judge Boerma emphasized it has to be done in a way that humans are still at the center of the equation – we have to develop systems that are reflective of our humanity and enable access to justice for all.
Some quotes and notes above from Joanna Goodman who has written Robots in Law: How Artificial Intelligence is Transforming Legal Services is now available from ARK Group https://www.ark-group.com/product/robots-law-how-artificial-intelligence-transforming-legal-services-0
Originally published in the Legal Executive Institute.
By Joseph Raczynski, Gregg Wirth & Gail Gottehrer
In a new two-part Thomson Reuters’ Legal Executive Institute podcast, Joe Raczynski, Legal Technologist and Futurist with Thomson Reuters Legal, discusses the hot topic of autonomous vehicles and their impact on the legal industry with attorney Gail Gottehrer, partner at Akerman LLP.
In part 1 of the podcast, (available below) the pair discuss how the technology behind driverless cars continues to evolve and who are the main players in this area. In part 2, they will discuss the opportunities for law firms in this evolving area. For example, law firms focusing on autonomous vehicles can advise clients about various issues including: (i) changes in insurance coverage models; (ii) regulatory changes in affected industries, (iii) workforce/employment issues, (iv) data privacy and security issues, and (v) anticipating potential use of data in litigation.
By Joseph Raczynski
In this Vlog, learn about Emerging Technology in the Legal industry. I focus on the impact of the Trinity of Forces (Cloud, Infinite Processing Power and AI) on Emerging Technology in the Legal industry. The Emerging Technologies discussed are: Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Analytics, VR/MR/AR (Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality and Augmented Reality) and VPAs (Virtual Personal Assistants) or Bots.
Joe Raczynski | Technologist 
Episode 2 of THE HEARING is now live!
In episode 2 of The Hearing Podcast Kevin Poulter speaks to futurist Joseph Raczynski on #legaltech #AI #blockchain and the future of the robot lawyer.
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