Baker Hostetler, a large law firm with offices in cities across the country, has announced it will harness technology in IBM's "Watson" to assist its lawyers with bankruptcy research. The Big Law firm has partnered with Ross Intelligence to tap into Watson's computing powers.

The partnership was announced in mid-April at Vanderbilt Law School in Nashville, Tennessee during a conference on artificial intelligence and the law. Ross Intelligence founder Andrew Arruda claims to have developed the world's first artificially intelligent lawyer.

Apparently, Ross is built atop Watson's cognitive computing and natural language processing capabilities. Ross is given a legal assignment; it then researches the relevant law and outputs a series of highly fact-specific evidenced based responses.

One of the innovative features of this artificially intelligent lawyer is that it learns from its users assignments, allowing it to bring back better results with each assignment. Ross also continually monitors the law, alerting the lawyers who have tasked out the machine to any changes.

The stated goal at Ross is to provide every law firm and lawyer with an artificial intelligence unit to assist in the delivery of legal services to clients.

Of course, this all gives rise to concerns of technology control, ownership, professional liability, and legal ethics. First comes the machine, then the laws follow.

We here at the Law Blogger will enjoy witnessing the dawn of the artificially intelligent attorney. We cannot wait to purchase our own law droid.

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