Author: TSA Press

Elon
Musk
has
thrown
his
energy
behind
the
Trump
candidacy,
adding
a
certain
“pasty-rich-white-man-fudning-a-platform-for-bigots”
energy
that
the
campaign
was
absolutely
not
lacking.
Musk’s
efforts
to
aid
Trump’s
bid
include
a
dedicated
super
PAC
and
paying
door
knockers
in
swing
states
who

apparently
just
took
the
money
and
ran.
But
he
also
concocted
a
new
“lottery”
to

pay
$1
million
a
day
to
lucky
people
who
sign
his
petition
about
defending
the
“Constitution”
—
which
is
to
say
the
First
Amendment
and
the
Second
Amendment
and
none
of
that
pesky
stuff
about
voting
rights
or
equal
protection
(unsurprisingly
the
stuff
that
the
“Constitution”
reprinted
in
the

Trump
Bible
skips
too).

Oh,
and
yeah,
this
is
totally
illegal.

Election
law
expert

Rick
Hasen
addressed
Musk’s
million-dollar
initiative
over
the
weekend
at
the
Election
Law
Blog:

Though
maybe
some
of
the
other
things
Musk
was
doing
were of
murky
legality,
this
one
is
clearly
illegal.
See 52
U.S.C.
10307(c):
“Whoever
knowingly
or
willfully
gives
false
information
as
to
his
name,
address
or
period
of
residence
in
the
voting
district
for
the
purpose
of
establishing
his
eligibility
to
register
or
vote,
or
conspires
with
another
individual
for
the
purpose
of
encouraging
his
false
registration
to
vote
or
illegal
voting, or
pays
or
offers
to
pay
or
accepts
payment
either
for
registration
to
vote or
for
voting
shall
be
fined
not
more
than
$10,000
or
imprisoned
not
more
than
five
years,
or
both…”
(Emphasis
added.)

To
further
clarify,
“For
an
offer
or
a
payment
to
violate
Section
10307(c),
it
must
have
been
intended
to
induce
or
reward
the
voter
for
engaging
in
one
or
more
acts
necessary
to
cast
a
ballot….”
There
are
carveouts
to
protect
against
someone
twisting
the
law
to
include
“giving
your
employees
the
Election
day
off”
or
“driving
your
neighbor
to
the
polls.”
But
offering
a
chance
at
a
million
dollars
is
a
far
cry
from
those
safe
harbors.

How
could
Musk
find
himself
on
the
illegal
end
of
such
a
straightforward
question?
Remember,
he
owns
Twitter
right
now
because
he
blew
off
whatever
good
legal
advice
he
received
from
his
Biglaw
counsel
and

waived
due
diligence.
Then
he
dragged
out
his

obvious
loser
of
a
fight,
causing
Twitter
to
run
up

a
massive
Wachtell
bill
that
became
Elon’s
responsibility
when
he
ultimately
honored
his
legal
obligation
and
completed
the
purchase.
Since
then,
he’s

nearly
gotten
a
firm
sanctioned
and
launched
a

wide-ranging
suit
against
a
media
watchdog
for
accurately
pointing
out
how
Twitter
works.
At
least
in
that
case
his
lawyers
successfully
steered
the
case
to
a
judge
with

a
huge
chunk
of
Tesla
stock
and

shows
no
signs
of
having
qualms
about
the
appearance
of
impropriety.

Someone
out
there
who
cares
about
Musk
needs
to
step
in
for
his
sake.
And,
ideally,
that
person
would
have
a
law
degree.

Elon
Musk
Veers
Into
Clearly
Illegal
Vote
Buying,
Offering
$1
Million
Per
Day
Lottery
Prize
Only
to
Registered
Voters
[Election
Law
Blog]

Earlier:

Twitter
Complaint
Demonstrates
That
Every
Lawyer,
Everywhere,
Always
Is
Smarter
Than
Elon
Musk

Elon
Musk
Will
Beat
Twitter!
WSJ
Says
It’s
Obvious…
Assuming
You
Change
Every
Single
Fact
And
Law.

Elon
Musk
Says
Advertisers
Are
Doing
The
RICO
If
They
Don’t
Give
Him
Money

Elon
Musk
Sues
Wachtell
For
Being
Better
Lawyers

---

Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of

Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or

Bluesky
if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a

Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.

Just
four
years
ago,
lawyers
were
somewhat
awestruck


when
they
tried
out

Casetext’s
AI-powered
legal
research
tool
for
the
first
time. 

The
product,
dubbed
“Parallel
Search,”
demonstrated
a
groundbreaking
ability:
conducting
research
based
on
the
meaning
of
a
phrase,
as
opposed
to
finding
an
exact
keyword,
which
had
been
the
process
for
decades.

But
as
impressive
as
this
advancement
was,
few
could
predict
just
how
quickly
artificial
intelligence
technology
in
the
legal
industry
would
continue
to
develop
and
grow
in
the
coming
years.  

This
progress
hit
a
high
point
with
the
launch
of
the
first
version
of
CoCounsel
by
Casetext
in
2023
—
and
the
tool’s
subsequent
addition
to
the
Thomson
Reuters
suite
of
technology
products. 

CoCounsel
aims
to
function
as
an
AI
legal
assistant
—
you
can
talk
to
it
as
you
would
a
colleague,
give
it
directions,
and
ask
it
to
complete
tasks,
which
it
will
do
with
superhuman
capabilities. 

And
as
generative
AI
technology
has
continuously
improved,
so
have
CoCounsel’s
offerings. 

Thomson
Reuters
recently
launched
CoCounsel
2.0,
which
contains
several
big
upgrades
made
possible
by
advances
in
the
underlying
tech. 

CoCounsel
2.0
is
three
times
faster
than
the
previous
version.
It
has
new
features
that
make
it
even
more
intuitive,
and
it
delivers
results
that
are
more
nuanced
and
thorough. 

In
response
to
users’
requests,
the
new
version
of
CoCounsel
integrates
directly
with
your
document
management
system,
and
it
can
now
compare
several
documents
and
provide
detailed
analysis
of
how
they
differ. 

Here,
we’re
sharing
a
tour
of
the
latest
version
of
CoCounsel,
guided
by
Jake
Heller,
who
co-founded
Casetext
and
is
currently
CoCounsel’s
head
of
product. 

Getting
Started

The
upgrades
in
CoCounsel
2.0
are
evident
from
when
you
first
log
in.

There
is
some
new
Thomson
Reuters
stylization,
but,
more
importantly,
CoCounsel
2.0
is
now
fully
supported
on
Thomson
Reuters
infrastructure. 

This
means
your
login
process
is
now
seamless.
CoCounsel
also
now
integrates
directly
with
Thomson
Reuters’
Westlaw
and
Practical
Law,
as
well
as
with
Microsoft
365. 

Additionally,
you
can
now
bring
in
files
for
CoCounsel
to
analyze
through
your
document
management
system. 

CoCounsel
users
previously
had
to
take
a
document
out
of
a
DMS,
save
it
to
their
hard
drive,
and
then
upload
it
into
CoCounsel.
Now,
CoCounsel
syncs
directly
with
systems
including
NetDocuments,
SharePoint,
and
iManage. 

New
Superpowers

For
an
example
task,
CoCounsel
was
populated
with
a
100-page
proposed
merger
agreement,
along
with
a
letter
agreement
that
modifies
the
original
document,
based
on
Microsoft’s
acquisition
of
Activision
Blizzard. 

CoCounsel
was
asked
several
complex
questions
about
the
two
documents.
Without
this
technology,
manually
determining
these
answers
would
likely
occupy
an
associate
for
the
better
part
of
a
day. 

CoCounsel
was
able
to
answer
these
questions
in
less
than
a
minute,
providing
detailed
analysis
that
shows
its
work.

This
exercise
shows
off
many
of
the
advances
in
artificial
intelligence
that
are
reflected
in
CoCounsel
2.0.

First,
the
new
CoCounsel
is
simply
much
faster
than
the
previous
version,
meaning
this
search
happens
in
about
a
minute,
as
opposed
to
a
few
minutes.

The
advances
are
far
more
substantive,
however.
As
AI
becomes
faster,
CoCounsel
can
consider
larger
datasets
at
one
time
and
provide
more
intelligent
analysis. 

Heller
notes
that
in
the
prior
version
of
CoCounsel,
the
underlying
AI
would
process
a
document
in
four-
or
five-page
pieces
and
then
compile
its
answers
based
on
ongoing
notes.

Now,
the
AI
can
read
5,000
pages
at
a
time,
and
therefore
it
can
fashion
more
intelligent
answers
and
insights. 

With
these
advances,
AI
can
now
analyze
the
impact
of
amendments
to
documents,
or
find
patterns
that
imply
the
use
of
code
words
in
eDiscovery
data,
or
spot
inconsistencies
in
deposition
testimony. 

Even
with
these
advances,
though,
it’s
critical
to
keep
the
human
in
the
loop
to
verify
the
work
of
any
AI
tool.
CoCounsel
2.0
takes
big
steps
in
that
direction
as
well.

Every
answer
it
provides
is
accompanied
by
a
footnote
number.
A
click
on
the
number
takes
the
user
directly
to
the
relevant
portion
of
the
underlying
document,
allowing
the
human
user
to
review
the
information
directly. 

Comparing
Documents

If
you’re
looking
at
a
proposed
agreement
and
then
a
document
amending
it,
or
trying
to
compare
regulatory
rulings
across
jurisdictions,
listing
out
differences
in
these
documents
can
be
a
time-consuming
task.

The
new
version
of
CoCounsel
addresses
this
problem
with
the
same
intuitive
and
user-friendly
approach
found
elsewhere
in
the
product. 

CoCounsel
2.0
allows
users
to
simply
upload
multiple
documents,
and
the
tool
will
generate
a
detailed
table
comparing
the
documents
on
numerous
data
points,
with
easy
links
to
the
source
included. 

The
use
cases
abound.
Litigators,
for
example,
may
want
to
compare
decisions
across
jurisdictions
and
point
out
similarities
and
differences. 

Here’s
an
example
of
how
it
shows
rulings
from
Korea,
Japan,
and
the
U.S.
—
with
the
source
documents
uploaded
in
Korean,
Japanese,
and
English,
respectively. 

The
CoCounsel
Difference

It’s
clear
that
the
CoCounsel
legal
assistant
is
a
powerful
and
transformative
technology,
and
the
upgrades
in
the
latest
version
will
further
ease
the
rote
tasks
that
bog
down
legal
work. 

Curious
about
learning
more?


You
can
check
out
the
product
here. 

If
you
watch
an
interview
of
Kamala
Harris,
or
Donald
Trump,
or
any
other
politician,
the
politician
will
answer
some
questions
and
filibuster
in
response
to
others.
Instead
of
answering
a
difficult
question,
the
politician
speaks
endless
nonresponsive
words,
permitting
the
politician
to
make
a
point
—
or
simply
waste
time
—
while
the
interviewer’s
clock
runs.
(In
court,
of
course,
this
tactic
doesn’t
work
as
well:
There’s
no
time
limit,
and
there’s
a
judge
present
to
insist
on
responsive
answers.)

You
could
ask
Trump
or
Harris
hard
questions
in
interviews,
but
you’d
never
hear
an
answer.
They’d
filibuster.

What
are
the
truly
hard
questions
for
each
of
the
two
major
party
presidential
candidates?

A
terribly
difficult
question
for
Harris
is
this:
When
did
you
first
notice
Joe
Biden’s
cognitive
decline?

What’s
Harris
to
say?

“Biden’s
not
in
decline”?
We
all
saw
Biden
at
the
debate.
He’s
in
decline.
And
Biden
himself
was
ultimately
convinced
to
withdraw
from
the
race
(although
he
of
course
says
that
he
withdrew
because
of
the
polls,
rather
than
his
condition).
If
Harris
insists
that
Biden
hasn’t
lost
a
step
or
two,
everyone
knows
that
Harris
is
lying.
“Biden’s
not
in
decline”
can’t
be
the
answer.

So
when
did
Harris
notice
Biden’s
decline?

She
didn’t
notice?

Then
she’s
not
a
very
observant
person.
I’m
not
sure
I’d
care
to
have
her
in
charge.

Perhaps
Harris
noticed
Biden’s
decline
last
year?

Then
why
didn’t
she
say
something?
POTUS
can
no
longer
handle
the
job,
and
Harris
is
remaining
silent?
What
kind
of
patriot
is
she?

Can
Harris
say
that
she
thought
Biden
was
surrounded
by
good
people
and
could
thus
handle
the
presidency
even
though
he
personally
had
lost
a
step?
That
doesn’t
say
much
for
the
office
of
the
presidency.

Thus,
my
impossible
question
for
Harris:
“When
did
you
first
notice
Joe
Biden’s
cognitive
decline?”
Harris
can’t
answer
that
question,
and
you’ll
never
hear
her
try.
She’ll
filibuster
instead.

What’s
an
impossible
question
for
Trump?

There
are
a
ton
of
hard
questions
for
Trump,
but
he
has
answers
(that
convince
his
loyalists)
for
many
of
them:
Why
did
a
jury
find
that
you
committed
sexual
assault
(which
a
judge
later
found
was,
in
the
usual
sense
of
the
word,
rape)?
It
was
a
biased
New
York
jury!
Why
did
a
jury
convict
you
of
34
felony
charges? 
It
was
a
witch
hunt
by
the
prosecutors,
and
the
jury
was
biased!
Why
did
you
incite
an
insurrection
on
January
6?
I
didn’t
incite
an
insurrection!
I
told
the
crowd
to
walk
peacefully
and
patriotically
down
the
street!

But
I
think
the
hardest
question
for
Trump
is
this:

On
January
6,
why
did
you
say
absolutely
nothing
for
three
hours
while
you
watched
a
mob
attack
the
Capitol
Building?

There’s
no
answer
to
this.

None
of
Trump’s
answers
work:
Consider
“The
mob
was
antifa!”
or
“The
mob
was
the
FBI!”
or
“Nancy
Pelosi
didn’t
have
enough
police
at
the
Capitol
Building
that
day!”

It
doesn’t
matter.
There
was
still
a
mob.
The
mob
was
still
attacking
the
Capitol
Building.
Perhaps
you
didn’t
know
who
the
mob
was,
perhaps
the
Capitol
was
inadequately
defended.
You
still
should
have
immediately
said:
“I
don’t
know
who
you
people
in
the
mob
are.
But,
if
I
have
any
influence
over
you
at
all,
please
listen
to
me:
Don’t
attack
the
Capitol
Building!
This
is
wrong.
This
is
not
what
I
had
in
mind.
This
is
criminal.
You
will
be
prosecuted
for
this.
Please
leave
the
building
and
go
home!”

What
possible
(and
nonincriminating)
reason
is
there
for
Trump
not
to
have
said
that?

The
stuff
I’ve
heard
from
Trump
supporters
when
I
pose
this
question
is
all
drivel:
“It
was
only
three
hours.”
Yeah?
Trump
was
the
president;
he’s
supposed
to
care
about
the
country.
The
Capitol
Building
was
being
ransacked
and
people
were
getting
hurt.
Under
those
circumstances,
I
give
him
about
three
minutes
to
make
a
statement;
he
sure
doesn’t
get
three
hours.

Trump
supporters
also
say:
“Trump’s
got
a
big
ego.
He
didn’t
believe
he’d
lost
the
election.
It
took
him
three
hours
to
pull
himself
together
and
say
something.”
No,
no,
no:
Trump
knew
he
had
lost
the
election
shortly
after
election
day,
eight
weeks
earlier.
Trump
had
been
told
by
many,
many
people
that
he’d
lost.
I
might
give
a
person
with
the
emotional
capacity
to
be
president
a
few
hours
to
get
over
the
loss
—
after
all,
throughout
history,
losing
candidates
have
pulled
themselves
together
on
election
night
to
give
public
concession
speeches
—
and
the
loss
surely
stings
for
a
while.
In
fact,
I
suspect
that
the
loss
probably
stings
forever
—
you
probably
go
to
your
grave
regretting
the
night
you
lost
the
presidency.
But
that
doesn’t
mean
that
you
allow
a
mob
to
attack
the
Capitol
Building
for
three
hours.

Trump
simply
can’t
answer
this.

What
are
the
real
answers
to
my
two
questions?

Why
didn’t
Harris
tell
the
public
that
she
saw
Biden
suffering
from
mental
decline?

I
suspect
that
Harris
saw
that
Biden
was
weakening.
But
everyone
in
the
White
House
was
saying
that
they
could
hide
Biden
during
the
campaign,
prop
him
up
for
a
few
public
events,
permit
him
to
win
reelection,
and
then
cover
for
him
for
the
next
four
years.
That
was
the
company
line
among
all
of
Biden’s
staffers,
none
of
whom
wanted
to
lose
their
cushy
jobs.
Harris,
a
loyal
Democrat,
played
along.

Does
that
stink?
You
bet
it
does;
that’s
one
of
the
reasons
why
I
dislike
politicians.
I’m
nonpartisan
in
this
regard:
I
dislike
all
politicians.
How
many
Republicans,
for
the
sake
of
their
political
futures,
have
hidden
the
fact
that
Trump
is
unfit
for
the
presidency?

What
about
my
impossible
question
for
Trump?
Why
didn’t
Trump
ask
the
mob
to
call
off
the
attack
on
the
Capitol
Building
while
he
watched
for
three
hours?

Because
he
wanted
to
keep
power,
even
though
he’d
lost
the
election.

You
decide
whether
Harris
or
Trump
committed
the
greater
sin.

---

Mark Herrmann


spent
17
years
as
a
partner
at
a
leading
international
law
firm
and
later
oversaw
litigation,
compliance
and
employment
matters
at
a
large
international
company.
He
is
the
author
of



The
Curmudgeon’s
Guide
to
Practicing
Law and Drug
and
Device
Product
Liability
Litigation
Strategy (affiliate
links).
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected].

*
Former
Biglaw
partner
sentenced
to
16
months
in
prison.
What’s
the
matter
number
on
that
time?
[ABA
Journal]

*
Prosecutor
sues
Georgetown
over
data
breach
in
rare
instance
where
a
Georgetown
graduate
doesn’t
want
everyone
to
know
about
it.
[Reuters]

*
With
a
new
film
out
there
about
Trump’s
relationship
with
Roy
Cohn,
the
Advocate
has
a
deep
dive
into
the
famed
lawyer’s
life
and
times.
[Advocate]

*
Oklahoma
is
asking
the
Supreme
Court
to
force
the
federal
government
to
give
back
funding
for
medical
services
that
it
withheld
after
Oklahoma
declared
that
it
wasn’t
going
to
allow
those
medical
services.
[Law360]

*
Law
school
clinic
working
on
Supreme
Court
case
aimed
at
protecting
the
rights
of…
straight
people?
[Balls
and
Strikes]

*
FTC’s
new
merger
rules
exemplify
ongoing
fight
within
the
agency.
[Bloomberg
Law
News]

*
Biglaw
firms
building
out
alumni
programs.
[American
Lawyer]