Microcomputers as Decision Aids in Law Practice

This book demonstrates the use of the personal computer as an integral component of legal decision making. Nagel begins with an overview of the use of microcomputers as a tool in the legal decision-making process. He reviews in detail the currently available decision-aiding software. Several important areas of decision-making are covered, including predicting the outcome of future cases in light of previous relevant cases and present facts; litigation choices such as whether to go to trial or to settle; allocating attorney resources; and negotiating and mediating. The book can help one's law practice more profitable, less time-consuming, and more competitive.

STUART S.NAGEL is Professor of Political Science at the University of Illinois, is Secretary-Treasurer and Publications Coordinator of the Policy Studies Organization. Among his most recently authored books are Causation, Prediction, and Legal Analysis(Quorum Books, 1986), Law, Policy, and Optimizing Analysis (Quorum Books, 1986), Microcomputers, Evaluation Research, and Policy Analysis, and Public Policy: Goals, Means, and Methods. His major edited books include Law and Policy Studies, Public Policy Analysis and Management, and The Policy Studies Field: Its Basic Literature. His articles have appeared in the American Bar Association Journal, American Political Science Review, Judicature, and other law and professional journals.