The Gazette 1946-49

• GAZETTE

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1988

experts adding their input and ex-

isting experts refining theirs in the

light of continuing experience the

system could become uniquely

valuable. In Mr. Niblett's opinion

there are no true expert systems at

present although they may evolve

from the work being carried on by

individuals at the moment. When

fully developed they might be us-

ed as arbitrators in disputes and

might even replace the judiciary!

Nicolas Bellord then addressed

the seminar and described some of

his pioneering development work in

this area. He explained that the

systems currently under develop-

ment only addressed one problem

at a time and that the problems we

face in practice involve a number

of interlocking problems. The

answer is to design a system

where one defines a goal and the

system advises on the best means

of reaching the goal. Furthermore,

it is still up to the practitioner to

separate the grain of truth from the

chaff of his instructions and no

compu t er s y s t em has been

designed which can do this. He

concluded (inter alia) that if some-

body had a truly expert system at

the present it would be in their

interest to keep it a closely guarded

secret.

Ms. Sharon Walsh then gave us

the bene f it of her p r ac t i cal

experience in this area. She

concluded that because of the

degree of personal interpretation

required in the practice of law com-

bined with local differences in

practice, particularly in the area of

litigation, that if it is not actually

impossible to write a useful expert

system, it is so difficult and time

consuming as to be not worth

while. Having disclosed the fact

that he had vested interest, insofar

as since being asked to address the

seminar he had left a large

accountancy practice and joined a

company selling skeleton pro-

grammes for use in the cons-

truction of expert systems, Nick

Morris then explained some of the

Practical steps to be taken in

setting

p a very small expert

system dealing with a discreet area

of law. He highlighted the potential

advantages of being able to

delegate work to junior personnel

who would have access, through

the computer, to the reasoning

Powers exhibited by their more ex-

perienced colleagues, combined

with the fact that an 'audit train'

showing each step taken by the

expert system in coming to a

particular conclusion was available

for monitoring the work of junior

personnel.

Patrick Fitzgibbon explained the

difficulties he had faced when he

set about designing a support

package for conveyancing and how

similar difficulties would arise in the

design of expert systems. He

suggested one means of avoiding

these problems by carefully

s t r uc t u r i ng the sys t em but

observed that in legal practice

someone would always come up

with a problem so impossible that

it would fox the system.

Rory O'Donnell, whose firm is

using a conveyancing support

system, explained how they had

evolved in the use of technology to

that stage. He highlighted some of

the difficulties involved in using

support systems and went on to

conclude that expert systems

would have to be considerably

more developed and have more

obvious direct application before he

would consider committing the

necessary investment of time and

money to developing or using one.

Following a series of short

submissions from the floor the

participants formed small groups,

each group being joined by a

committee member and a speaker

in order to formulate further

questions and to continue dis-

cussion.

Mr. Frank Lanigan who, as

Chairman of the Technology Com-

mittee, had acted as Chairman of

the seminar then summed up and

was asked by Mr. Michael Houlihan

to address the specific questions

which had been raised by the

brochure for the seminar. The

general feeling seemed to be that

expert sys t ems were

very

interesting

but

t hat

t he

practicalities of their introduction

and development were such as to

require great cau t i on.

The

Chairman went on to explain that

an exh i b i t i on of

document

production, support and expert

systems was being held con-

currently with the seminar and that

these were now available for

participants to test their theories.

In conclusion, he set the tone for

the remainder of the evening by

explaining that the management

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had requested that those who

wished to order fine wines should

do so early so that they could be

arranged for t hem to

appropriately chilled or chambre'd.

Communications

On Sunday morning, a series of

short lectures was organised about

communications between com-

puter systems. Telecom Eireann

had arranged for six additional tele-

phone lines to be laid on to Tulfarris

House and this, the chairman

explained was one of the prime

reasons why it had been chosen as

a venue. He said that if Telecom

Eireann were able to organise tele-

phone lines of reasonable quality to

Tulfarris House at Poulaphouca,

they

cou ld organise

t hem

anywhere in the country!

Electronic Mail

Noel Clarke from Telecom Eireann

explained to us the mysteries of

packet switching and electronic

mail. He was followed by Nicolas

Bellord who set before us some

fascinating statistics concerning

the me t hods of despa t ch of

messages and documents from

so l i c i t o r s' o f f i ces wh i ch had

resulted from a survey carried out

in England a couple of years ago.