Reflections on my journey in using Information Technology to support Legal Decision Making—from Legal Positivism to Legal Realism

In this paper I discuss my transition from legal positivism to legal realism and how this has impacted upon my construction of legal decision support systems. As a child living with parents who were heavily engaged in politics, and who had disastrous experiences with the twin evils of fascism and communism, I was encouraged to become a scientist. But my interest was always in law and politics. Constructing legal decision support systems was a pragmatic balance between my skills and interests. So I began constructing rule-based systems. But gradually I became aware of the discretionary nature of legal decision making and the need to model legal realism. Through the use of machine learning I have been able to develop useful systems modelling discretion. The advent of the world wide web has allowed the wider community to become more aware of legal decision making. It has fostered the concept of online dispute resolution and provided tools for self-represented litigants. Most importantly, we have become aware that the major impediment to the use of technology in law is not the lack of adequate software. Rather it is the failure of the legal profession to address user centric issues.

Legal decision support system application possibility in corporate governance

Decision-making that must be supported by specific information or reasoning extensively relies on decision support systems, capable of handling data from multiple sources. Most decision-makers seek to find cost-effective solutions, i.e. mainly focusing on most efficient solutions in economic terms, consequently, it is the economic information that is basically processed and offered for decision-making process by decision support systems, along with economic models. Though businesses focus on the most rational solutions to the management process, other criteria also play an important role, including time costs, confidentiality, and friendly relations with service users, customers, partners and government agencies, etc., thus management decision-making may successfully rely on legal decision support systems. The article presents an overview of legal decision support systems and their potential as regards their application in addressing a wide array of business management issues. The article also focuses on the selection and screening of indicators critical to decision-making, and offers a potential structure for management decision- making.