It's fun to look around DC legal offices, and even more fun to share them with you. Fastcase CEO Ed Walters, a former Covington lawyer, showed us around the company's new Penn Quarter space at 711 D St. The online legal research firm has more than 4,500 sq. ft., including a mezzanine, in the old Union Hardware building. (All leftover hinges may be used to to improve closing arguments.) It's a 10-year lease with Douglas Development. The office mixes glass and modern, open areas with aspects of the old space like exposed original brick.
You can't go wrong with Supreme Court justice bobble-heads. They're sitting on a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf full of legal tomes that the company is moving online, making a digital law library. You've probably seen it through the DC Bar's partnership with the company (one of 25 it has with different state bars), which gives members free access.
In 10 years, Ed predicts, nobody will do document production by hand; it will all use algorithms. He already sees a trend of lawyers using big data to augment decision-making on issues like whether to take a case and whether to settle one. For more routine legal matters like basic bankruptcies, many aspects are being automated as well.
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