[net.lang.prolog] PROLOG Digest V4 #39

PROLOG-REQUEST@SU-SCORE.ARPA (Chuck Restivo, The Moderator) (08/18/86)

PROLOG Digest            Tuesday, 19 Aug 1986      Volume 4 : Issue 39

Today's Topics:
                      Announcement -  AI and Law
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Date: 13 Aug 86 20:36:33 EDT
From: MCCARTY@RED.RUTGERS.EDU
Subject: Conference on AI and Law

                           CALL FOR PAPERS:

                  First International Conference on
                   ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND LAW

                           May 27-29, 1987
                       Northeastern University
                      Boston, Massachusetts, USA

In recent years there has been an increased interest in the
applications of artificial intelligence to law.  Some of this interest
is due to the potential practical applications: A number of
researchers are developing legal expert systems, intended as an aid to
lawyers and judges; other researchers are developing conceptual legal
retrieval systems, intended as a complement to the existing full-text
legal retrieval systems.  But the problems in this field are very
difficult.  The natural language of the law is exceedingly complex,
and it is grounded in the fundamental patterns of human common sense
reasoning.  Thus, many researchers have also adopted the law as an
ideal problem domain in which to tackle some of the basic theoretical
issues in AI: the representation of common sense concepts; the process
of reasoning with concrete examples; the construction and use of
analogies; etc.  There is reason to believe that a thorough
interdisciplinary approach to these problems will have significance
for both fields, with both practical and theoretical benefits.

The purpose of this First International Conference on Artificial
Intelligence and Law is to stimulate further collaboration between AI
researchers and lawyers, and to provide a forum for the latest
research results in the field.  The conference is sponsored by the
Center for Law and Computer Science at Northeastern University.  The
General Chair is: Carole D.  Hafner, College of Computer Science,
Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston MA 02115,
USA; (617) 437-5116 or (617) 437-2462; hafner.northeastern@csnet.

Authors are invited to contribute papers on the following topics:

   - Legal Expert Systems
   - Conceptual Legal Retrieval Systems
   - Automatic Processing of Natural Legal Texts
   - Computational Models of Legal Reasoning

In addition, papers on the relevant theoretical issues in AI are also
invited, if the relationship to the law can be clearly demonstrated.
It is important that authors identify the original contributions
presented in their papers, and that they include a comparison with
previous work.  Each submission will be reviewed by at least three
members of the Program Committee (listed below), and judged as to its
originality, quality and significance.

Authors should submit six (6) copies of an Extended Abstract (6 to 8
pages) by January 15, 1987, to the Program Chair: L.  Thorne McCarty,
Department of Computer Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick NJ
08903, USA; (201) 932-2657; mccarty@rutgers.arpa.  Notification of
acceptance or rejection will be sent out by March 1, 1987.  Final
camera-ready copy of the complete paper (up to 15 pages) will be due
by April 15, 1987.

Conference Chair: Carole D. Hafner         Northeastern University

Program Chair:    L. Thorne McCarty        Rutgers University

Program           Donald H. Berman         Northeastern University
Committee:        Michael G. Dyer          UCLA
                  Edwina L. Rissland       University of Massachusetts
                  Marek J. Sergot          Imperial College, London
                  Donald A. Waterman       The RAND Corporation

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End of PROLOG Digest
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