Use Wolfram Alpha as a Writing Tool - Wolfram Alpha - Lifehacker.
Words are the tools of the trade for lawyers. If you don't have a dictionary in your brain, or you could use some help, the new computational engine in Wolfram-Alpha can be your savior. While scientific and math data is the most common use of the engine, few people know that you can use it for an intelligent dictionary. Just ask what all of the words with a particular suffix, and Wolfram-Alpha will answer you right away. If you want to combine Google with Wolfram, try Goofram, a hack of the two engines.
Good idea but even better is Goofram, which I thought at first was a clever spoof; even after a week or so of using it I am not sure!
W/A is still a little limited, especially for legal terms (W/A does not know what to do with "indemnification provisions") but one of its secrets is that it is "self learning."
Still, the mash-up is great. I used W/A last week to calculate some royalty payments, an amount for liquidated damages and a severance package, while looking at various terms on those topics generated on the Google side of the page. However, for "severance package" W/A gave me two movies--"Severance" and "The Package." That was NOT billable time!
James C. Roberts III
Posted by: James C. Roberts III | July 31, 2009 at 06:44 PM