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An AI Just Defeated a Group of Lawyers

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AI has taken a big swing at chess players, poker players, go players and now lawyers! A showdown between some of the best lawyers in the world and an AI intelligence platform LawGeex, over an interpretation of contracts resulted in the humans losing, again.

The challenge had twenty lawyers go up against the AI platform in consultation with law professors from Stanford University, Duke University, School of Law, and University of Southern California – both were given four hours to review five non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), identifying 30 legal issues, this included things like arbitration, confidentiality of relationship and indemnification. The scoring happened by accuracy in indemnifying each issue.

Humans took another tumble against the rising force of smart machines with an 85% accuracy rate. The AI smashed that out of the water with 95% accuracy. What makes this even scarier is it took the humans 92 minutes on average, but the AI completed it in 26 seconds.

This is a task lawyers undertake daily, but this still didn’t assist in the competition. The AI scoring the highest result achieved 100% accuracy in one contract, against the human whose highest result is 97%.

So, what does this mean for the legal industry?

When a computer can complete intricate and complicated jobs like this, it’s easy to see the threat posed to the industry as a whole, we see the looming threat of computerised legal offices dealing with every need in mere moments, but it’s not as dystopian as that.

“Having the AI do a first review of an NDA, much like having a paralegal issue spot, would free up valuable time for lawyers to focus on client counselling and other higher-value work,” said Erika Buell, clinical professor at Duke University School of Law, who LawGeex consulted for the study. 

These tools will come into the market, and there is a place for them, but like the computer on your desk it’s simply a tool and will only serve to make the process easier and quicker for both the solicitor and their clients. We feel there’s only good to come from this, but it’s a fascinating step into the future at the very least!

Aston Bond attend the Slough careers fair

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Aston Bond solicitors gave their time supporting young students and giving general careers advice at the Slough Careers Fair this week.  The Slough Aspire Careers Fair brings a local schools together with businesses and further education colleges and is run by the charity Learning to Work.  Aston Bond have been keen supporters for the past few years.  It is always rewarding taking part in these events, both on the Q&A panel and meeting students individually at our stall. The level of interest in a career in law is heartening and we were impressed by the calibre and enthusiasm of the young people we met.

Aston Bond at the Slough Careers fair
Aston Bond team at their stall.

Aston Bond Tackles the London Legal Walk again

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London Legal walk here we come!

Here we are again, the 2018 London Legal Walk is on it’s way; 21st May. An ambitious 10km walk all through central London, and it’s something Aston Bond enjoy being part of year in year out, helping to raise money for the London Legal Support Trust. The charity helps raise money for Legal Aid, Legal Aid helps people who are unable to afford legal advice, to obtain needed legal representation.

Giving back and raising money is something that underpins the core values of Aston Bond, and knowing that the sum of our efforts can help bring justice and change to those who are less fortunate or unable to seek basic legal advice is fantastic. The company always hits the pavements of the big city to show their support and raise as much money as possible to help a great charity, who are doing great things.

This year we’re going for an ambitious £600, we’ve now got under four months to make it happen, but we’re hoping with your help we can raise enough money to support the London Legal Support trust; which will all make a difference to their admirable work.

Click here to go to the JustGiving page and donate as much as you can, thank you.

Below are some of the photos from our previous days at The London Legal walk, a fantastic event, which finish the walk with an amazing street festival, complete with exotic food and amazing acts. It really is a great day out and we can’t wait to get there!

Ilinca Mardarescu

Head of Employment

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Aston Bond at Slough Aspire Careers Fair

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The Slough Aspire Careers Event is a community driven project aimed at giving career information to young people from the local area. The two day event, which took place on the 2nd and 3rd of February, allowed Aston Bond to share it’s industry knowledge and give valuable information regarding the legal profession to interested and enthusiastic year 9 and 10s Continue reading “Aston Bond at Slough Aspire Careers Fair”

You’re paying more tax than Facebook

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Social media giants Facebook are reported, by the Sunday Times, to have paid just £4,327 in corporation tax to the UK government in 2014.

The average UK worker, who receives a salary of £26,500, will pay £5,392.90 in income tax and national insurance. Yes you read that correctly; the multi-national corporation with global profits of over £1.4 billion pay less tax to the UK government than the average UK working citizen. Continue reading “You’re paying more tax than Facebook”

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