Rev for Law Students
An Introduction
to Revolution for Students and
Faculty of New York Law School
A short message from the Dean –
The New York Law School community is grateful to the Runtime Revolution Ltd. software company for making “Revolution Studio” available to NYLS students, faculty and staff. Revolution Studio is a powerful and easy-to-use tool that lets anyone – even a lawyer – write software. This rapid application development tool works on Macs, PCs and Linux machines and will allow you to build your own interactive desktop applications.
Why would a lawyer ever need to know how to write software?
Increasingly, lawyers use technology in every area of practice. Familiarity with the basics is essential for the well-trained lawyer and for the law student who wants a “leg up” in the marketplace. Lawyers practicing in fields that relate to technology directly, such as intellectual property, must understand how computer systems work. Every lawyer, whether doing transactional work (e.g., using software to generate deal documents) or litigation (with its increasing use of electronic discovery) needs to be able to evaluate technology tools used in practice. We live in a world in which rights and obligations are importantly influenced by computer systems – so lawyers must understand not only legal code but also software code.
Our motto is “Learn law. Take action”. Maybe we should insert “Write Code” in the middle! Faculty and students already have experience with using Revolution Studio to build interactive learning software, interactive diagrams that illustrate legal doctrines or explain statutory provisions, client counseling simulations, graphical courtroom demonstrations, and software kiosks to help pro se litigants. I’m sure you will find new creative ways to use this very impressive software tool.
Rick Matasar
Dean, New York Law School
What is Revolution Studio?
Revolution Studio is a Rapid Application Development tool that makes it easy to build desktop software applications. It has an English-language-like syntax, which makes learning to code easy even for novices. It provides tools to design and test interface elements with the click of a mouse. It can link to databases and internet resources. If you can imagine a software application, you can build it in Revolution Studio.
How do I get access to Revolution Studio?
You should register with your nyls email account. This will result in your receiving an activation code at that email address. Download the appropriate version of the software and use this code to activate the software. The license is valid only while you are a student (or faculty member or staff) at NYLS. The License does not include a right to update to new versions. Please keep your activation code confidential.
Why would a law student want to learn how to program?
In real life, lawyers need to be able to solve problems in dynamic situations. They think through how to make decisions in contingent circumstances. What should a client do if this happens? If that happens? If this and that happen? Writing software teaches you how to think with this kind of “if, then” logic. Creating a software application – no matter how simple -- requires working with precise logic and coping with emergent complexity in much the same way as lawyers must do in life and practice.
Why would a law professor want to learn how to program?
Revolution’s scripting language and graphical interface tools make it easy to create interactive learning software, such as the legal card games and clickable diagrams that have already been built at NYLS. The English language like syntax makes it possible for the author to focus on substance, rather than arcane software commands. The program makes it easy to build and test, iteratively – so there is no need to develop complex specifications or communicate a design to a third party programmer. When the application is ready, it can be run on both PC and Mac platforms. These interactive learning applications bring the teacher’s expertise to students outside the classroom.
How should I start getting familiar with Revolution Studio?
The video tutorials are first rate. In addition, look at the documentation that comes with the program. You will find it helpful to begin with a specific project and to look up the syntax as you encounter the need to do various things. In addition, you can download example stacks and open the scripts associated with various objects to see how they work. We will also hold training sessions at NYLS.
What can I do with Revolution Studio?
The following is a list of suggested projects, involving use of Revolution Studio, that are of particular relevance to NYLS and lawyers:
Create your first interactive program.
Try creating a button that, when clicked, asks a question and the puts the resulting answer into a field. Create another button that, when triggered by a signal sent from the script in the first button, changes the color of the field to a different color depending on the nature of the text in the field. Use the graphical tools to draw a picture on the screen. Create a button that hides and shows that picture. Play around. You get the idea. Soon you will be thinking like a programmer.
Create a legal learning game or simulation.
NYLS has various existing examples of interactive learning games built in Runtime Revolution, such as “card games” that let the user drag particular arguments and facts into a target structure, client telephone call simulations, and so forth. You could get some of these and use them as models into which you can pour your own content. But don’t be limited by what others have produced. Create an explorable world based on links that lead from one screen (card) to another. Add characters that can engage in conversation or puzzles that require certain kinds of clicks to solve a problem. In order to build a game that teaches law, you have to learn the law and think about how it is applied in action..
Create a clickable statute or dynamic doctrinal diagram.
NYLS has some examples of statutory and regulatory language laid out in the form of hierarchically nested screens that include serial (and), parallel (or) and crossing (not) lines, on which particular elements (labeled buttons) represent the elements that may or may not be present in any given case. As the buttons are clicked on and off, the graphical diagram automatically computes the ultimate conclusions. Similarly, we have built branching logic trees that show how a sequence of decisions/tests leads to the legal classification of a property interest or the resolution of a disputed case. Again, don’t be limited by what others have already created. Think about how to create an interactive screen that constitutes a dynamic model of the way a legal doctrine operates.
Create an automated document generator
Use fields to store lots of different clauses that might or might not be included in a contract or other legal document (e.g., a nondisclosure agreement). Use buttons or some other interface elements to interview the user regarding what special words need to be used in the document and what choices she wants to make. Finally, write a script that assembles and saves and prints a final document based on the choices that have been made. If you want to get fancy, have the script check for incomplete choices or blank variables.
Create an expert system.
If you know how to write an “if, then” statement in runtime revolution, you can write an expert system that gives guidance about the law. There is no better way to test your own understanding of the law. There are many different ways to design the interface and underlying logic for such a system.
Create software that monitors online materials relevant to particular legal topics.
Revolution Studio contains a browser that can bring in materials from any addressable web site. Scripts can then be written to process the materials that have been brought into the desktop application. Think about writing a program to monitor developments in the area of law that you care about. Similar approaches could be used to build software that automatically inspects electronic documents during the process of discovery in litigation. Some at NYLS have used this kind of tool to track professional contacts in a sort of electronic professional rolodex. (See dotank.nyls.edu)
Create software that enables tracking complex factual and legal disputes.
Some at NYLS have experimented with Revolution to build graphical structures that show the relationships among numerous factual propositions and related inferences and legal conclusions. If you can diagram all the arguments in a case, you can see more clearly how the conclusions might change if the facts were altered. Note that Revolution is able to work with databases – so there’s no limit to the potential power of your application.
Create your own interactive learning checklist
Keep track of what you hope to learn during law school and rate your attainment of various skills. Keep track of your professional contacts and accomplishments. Collect material for your resume’ and personal skills portfolio. Note that various projects built in Revolution Studio have formed a basis for the award of the Certificate of Mastery of Law Practice Technology – an honor at graduation that can help you distinguish yourself when seeking employment in the legal marketplace.
Have fun.
Exercise the creative and fun-loving side of your brain! Law school doesn’t have to be boring. The happiest lawyers are the ones who seize opportunities to be creative and invent their own careers. Even if you only use Revolution Studio to learn how software works, you will have added a whole new kind of writing to your repertoire.