Rule of Logic and Experience -legal practice series- part 1
Updated: Jul 14, 2022
Two Eyes of Lawyer - Logic and Experience
A judge decides the authenticity of principals' assertions by the rule of logic and experience (Article 202 of the Civil Procedure Act).
Lawyers are not judges; however, they interpret facts and contentions through two eyes: logic and experience. Unfortunately, one eye decision mostly leads to a wrong answer. Especially experience has an intrinsic flaw (i.e., incompleteness and subjectivity of memory).
Mathematics and Law
The mathematician finds the answer by "numbers" using "logic." The lawyer finds the solution by "defined words" using "logic and experience." A mathematician does not see the answer first. Likewise, a lawyer should not look for the Supreme Court's case precedent first.
Time constraint makes the lawyer find the case precedent first without thinking first. Law school students are busy memorizing the Supreme Court's case precedent. Only a few take time and think before searching for the answer.
I have seen some intelligent guys who are not lawyers but can search the case precedents like lawyers; sometimes, they were better than prominent law firms. The research engine is developing rapidly.
My advice to the team (excerpt of team conversation)
DK: "Hey, don't find the Supreme Court's ruling precedent."
Team: "What? Answer without the Supreme Court's case precedent?"
DK: "Hey, you are trying to remember the Supreme Court's decision in your mind. Throw it away..."
Team: "What?"
DK: "Don't rely on others' views. Before searching or remembering others' views, you should try to find the answer using your own logic and experience."
".... Yes..."
Deja Vu
Maestro of Korean Morden Music: Black Rain (黑雨) Dae-Hwan Kim
In order to introduce Black Rain, I need a whole new series. Due to the webpage constraint, I am just mentioning that he taught Yong-Pil Cho, King of K-Pop, and Yong-Pil respects him most among other musicians.
There is a famous tale between Black Rain and a representative Korean singer Sa-Ik Jang. Please see the below. Also, please refer to the following English translation. This conversation was precisely in line with my discussion with the team. So maybe I am White Rain...
He made me sing out of nowhere. So I sang, and he told me,
"Hey, don't keep the beat."
"What? don't keep the beat?"
"Hey, you count the beat in your mind, throw it away..."
I smack my knees. Wow, a song can be sung like this.
From thereon, I begin to sing with my own breath without being bound to the beat. So I start to understand his music.
His free jazz expresses one's soul improvisatory exchanging each other's music.
Legal Big Data, Machine Learning & AI
"Big Data and AI technology are at the Gate."
They are not the Barbarians but the Giants.
The search engines will replace those "searching precedent" jobs. For example, a company like LegalForce began to replace "contract marking up service (contract examination)," which was a significant income source for a law firm.
Japan's legal AI pioneer, LegalForce – which provides NLP doc analysis and contract management – has received $101m in a new fundraise joined by the local SoftBank Vision Fund, Goldman Sachs and Sequoia Capital.
To survive, human lawyers need to find the works of something irreplaceable by Artificial Lawyers. Otherwise, they will rely on AI, add low value to the clients, and receive little money.