Law firm Baker & Hostetler has announced that they are employing IBM’s AI Ross to handle their bankruptcy practice, which at the moment consists of nearly 50 lawyers.

According to CEO and co-founder Andrew Arruda, other firms have also signed licenses with Ross, and they will also be making announcements shortly.

Ross, “the world’s first artificially intelligent attorney” built on IBM’s cognitive computer Watson, was designed to read and understand language, postulate hypotheses when asked questions, research, and then generate responses (along with references and citations) to back up its conclusions. Ross also learns from experience, gaining speed and knowledge the more you interact with it.

“You ask your questions in plain English, as you would a colleague, and ROSS then reads through the entire body of law and returns a cited answer and topical readings from legislation, case law and secondary sources to get you up-to-speed quickly,” the website says. “In addition, ROSS monitors the law around the clock to notify you of new court decisions that can affect your case.”

Ross also minimizes the time it takes by narrowing down results from a thousand to only the most highly relevant answers, and presents the answers in a more casual, understandable language. It also keeps up-to-date with developments in the legal system, specifically those that may affect your cases.

Reddit comment:

Until Ross passes the BAR, it's just an intern. Go get me some coffee Ross

1600+ Reddit comments:

https://reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/4j03sa/artificially_intelligent_lawyer_ross_has_been/

10 predictions:

http://www.abajournal.com/legalrebels/article/10_predictions_about_how_ibms_watson_will_impact

https://reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/4nsf8g/10_predictions_about_how_ibms_watson_will_impact/