The future of legal research assistance lawyers is zero. The job will soon vanish for all practical purposes.

Futurism reports "Ross, the world's first artificially intelligent attorney, has its first official law firm. Baker & Hostetler announced that they will be employing Ross for its bankruptcy practice, currently comprised of almost 50 lawyers."

Please consider Artificially Intelligent Lawyer "Ross" Has Been Hired By Its First Official Law Firm.

Ross: A Very Smart Artificial Co-worker

Law firm Baker & Hostetler has announced that they are employing IBM's AI Ross to handle their bankruptcy practice, which at the moment consists of nearly 50 lawyers. According to CEO and co-founder Andrew Arruda, other firms have also signed licenses with Ross, and they will also be making announcements shortly.

Ross, "the world's first artificially intelligent attorney" built on IBM's cognitive computer Watson, was designed to read and understand language, postulate hypotheses when asked questions, research, and then generate responses (along with references and citations) to back up its conclusions. Ross also learns from experience, gaining speed and knowledge the more you interact with it.

"You ask your questions in plain English, as you would a colleague, and ROSS then reads through the entire body of law and returns a cited answer and topical readings from legislation, case law and secondary sources to get you up-to-speed quickly," the website says. "In addition, ROSS monitors the law around the clock to notify you of new court decisions that can affect your case."

Ross is not authorized to practice law (at least yet). However, Ross can replace lawyers whose primary job is legal research.

Now that the first robot has been hired, a stampede to hire "Ross" will soon occur.