Adjudication by algorithm

Feast your eyes on this week’s must-know news.

 We start with the newest dish on the table: AI arbitration. Whether legal disputes can be resolved by robots isn’t a hypothetical anymore. AI arbitration is here, and it’s being pushed by one of the biggest names in ADR. Should you trust it, fear it or start drafting contracts in anticipation of it?

Then we’re carving into Thanksgiving itself, the real story, the mythology and the legal history. Yes, there’s a statute behind your stuffing, and it comes with a reminder that law and culture are inextricably intertwined.

And for the final course, we’re tackling the one item no one is grateful for: one-star reviews. We’ve got practical, ethics-safe advice on how to respond without getting burned.

But first, what would you say to this Reddit user who got some confusing feedback during their annual review? If you haven’t got a clue, the info below on best practices for performance reviews is a must-read. 

What a coincidence! 
According to SNL, the turkey President Trump pardoned this year just happened to be a sex criminal. (If you actually want to talk turkey-pardoning, the White House Historical Association has you covered.)

Lesser of two evils?
This lawyer would rather use AI than try to teach a junior associate how to help them. 

The burden of proof is in the pudding. 
If you are ready to break precedent and add a new dish to your table this year, Table for 9 is the cookbook you need. Or you could try a dish recommended by someone in the legislative branch, like @cookinwithcongress does on Instagram.

Going once, going twice, sold!
In Delaware, a judge has ordered a former couple to auction off their dog. 

Your First Amendment right to parade. 
Before the Rockettes hit Herald Square, it’s time to brush up on parade law. SCOTUS has held that they are a form of expression even if they lack a “particularized message” because marchers in a parade are usually “making some sort of collective point.” While there are local laws regulating them, parades can be traced to horrifying accidents and “The Great Balloon Massacre."  

Performance reviews don’t have to be painful

In theory, most firms have a performance review process in place that lets everyone know where they stand, reinforces the firm’s culture and makes sure decisions about retention and compensation are grounded in reality. In practice, annual reviews are often avoided, inconsistent or nonexistent. 

This article from Catherine Reach, Director of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Center for Practice Management, explains why firms should adopt a formal review process and provides tips on how to do so. Reach highlights different types of review processes and provides links to helpful examples and templates you can customize for your team. 

If you’re the one being reviewed, this article from Collier Legal Search has some advice for how to prepare for a review session, and what to do during and after you receive feedback. 

Why this matters: Thoughtful reviews can transform this annual task into a productive conversation that puts everyone on the same page. Reviewers and those being reviewed can both do prep work to ensure the process is more than just a random box to be checked on a busy end-of-the-year to-do list. (North Carolina Bar Association’s Center for Practice Management / Collier Legal Search)

This robot will decide your case

This isn’t a link to an article, instead it’s a portal to another dimension. The American Arbitration Association’s new AI Arbitrator is live, and you kind of have to see it to believe it. 

Right now, it only does documents-only construction cases, but the website says commercial, employment, consumer, government, healthcare, international, labor and mass arbitration are “coming soon.” 

Parties upload all the information they want the AI arbitrator to have. The AI arbitrator summarizes the facts, the claims and the law for the parties to approve; then spits out a suggested award that a human arbitrator can approve or adjust.  

Why this matters: Adjudication by algorithm is here. And it’s being promoted by the biggest promoter of alternative dispute resolution out there. (American Arbitration Association)

From the Wampanoags to Sarah Josepha Hale

Throughline is one of NPR’s most popular podcasts, and for good reason. Its hosts, Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei, do a masterful job dissecting today’s headlines through a historical lens. Many of the episodes end up touching on legal history, and last year’s Thanksgiving broadcast is no exception. 

The focus is on Sarah Josepha Hale, a New England widow (whose late husband was an attorney) turned famous “editress.” She lobbied policy-makers to set aside their belief that holidays were a state, not federal matter and helped make Thanksgiving a national holiday.

But it also talks about what happened to the Native Americans around Plymouth after the first Thanksgiving. And why we tell a mythologized version of that story instead of going into the gory details as we carve the turkey.  

Why this matters: Revisiting the creation of Thanksgiving as we know it is an interesting history lesson. It’s also a reminder that aspirations, culture, and a quest for a national identity shape our laws far more than we might imagine. (Throughline)

• 60 DOJ attorneys speak out
• Chatbots in court
• DOJ sues California over law that bans ICE agents from wearing masks
• Trump has issued nearly 2,000 pardons
• New database tracks the work of attorneys in the executive branch

5-star advice

Reviews play a critical role in your firm’s marketing, so figuring out how to respond when you receive an unflattering one is important. This article from LawRank can help you figure out what steps you should take when you get a bad review. Unsurprisingly, for anyone who is familiar with the RPCs and the ABA’s formal opinion on this exact topic, posting a scorched earth response is not the best option. 

In addition to offering some sample responses to common complaints, the article also encourages firms to follow up offline when appropriate, learn from recurring criticisms and adjust internal processes accordingly. 

Why this matters: In today’s digital-first world, online reviews are more than a vanity metric, they are a big influence on potential clients. This article outlines a practical approach for responding to negative reviews that protects your reputation, complies with ethical rules and may end up improving your firm. (LawRank)

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 Raise the Bar is written and curated by Emily Kelchen and edited by Bianca Prieto.