Building Intelligent Legal Information Systems

Intelligent legal information systems or information retrieval systems that support the research and practical activities of today's lawyers have gained ground as legal support tools. This development will have a profound impact on the study and practice of law all over the world in the years to come. While there may exist a considerable computer-phobia among lawyers, this barrier should be overcome because ""no legal professional of the 21st century can afford to be without automated legal support systems"", according to the authors. One of the tasks they have set for themselves is the elimination of some of the persistent misinformations that exist about modern information retrieval techniques, while exploring this new and developing field.;This work consists of three sections, the first of which provides the background information essential for understanding the rest of the book. The second section specifically treats the concept of artificial intelligence, its techniques and the most important existing legal expert systems. The final section gives insight into methods of building legal expert systems, learning approaches and commercial considerations.