NetCase: An intelligent system to assist legal services providers in transnational legal networks

Abstract

Globalization and international trade have transformed the delivery of transnational legal services worldwide. Law firms face market competition through a variety of strategies, ranging from expansion in size, specialization of services, international alliances or creation of networks. Transnational legal networks (TLN) have emerged as one of those alternatives, but they face a number of organizational challenges: cross-referral of cases, knowledge management strategies, exchange of information, etc. The Netcase project aims at addressing those major challenges by proposing an intelligent system of automatic case forwarding within TLN. Netcase is able to analyze incoming cases and assign them to the most appropriate law firms and lawyers. The selection is based on law firm specialties, availability of resources, and lawyers' skills. The model results in a central market where lawyers and law firms are skill producers, law firms are also skill containers, and legal cases are goods that need skills to be solved. © 2005 Springer-Verlag.