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 "@type": "DefinedTerm",
 "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/legal-expert-systems",
 "identifier": "kaal:entity:legal-expert-systems",
 "name": "Legal expert systems",
 "termCode": "legal-expert-systems",
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 "author": {
  "@type": "Person",
  "name": "Wulf A. Kaal",
  "identifier": "https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0757-275X"
 },
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   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/5541658-001",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:5541658-001",
   "text": "The limitations of rule-based legal expert systems drove the field toward case-based reasoning in the 1990s and machine learning in the early 2000s, because data-driven approaches allow legal AI to operate without relying solely on predefined rules.",
   "abstract": "The limitations of rule-based systems prompted a shift toward case-based reasoning in the 1990s and subsequently machine learning (ML) in the early 2000s. These approaches, more particularly ML, allowed AI to rely on data rather than rely solely on predefined rules,",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Morgan A. Gray, The Evolving Role of Artificial Intelligence in Law (2025). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5541658",
   "datePublished": "2025",
   "claim_type": "mechanism",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": false,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "applies to the historical development of AI and law from the 1980s through the 2000s"
   ],
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   "status": "current"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/5541658-002",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:5541658-002",
   "text": "Early legal expert systems failed because they were brittle: they could not handle unforeseen complexity and could not generalize beyond the domains they were explicitly programmed for.",
   "abstract": "However, early expert systems were brittle, struggling with unforeseen complexities and lacking the ability to generalize beyond their programmed",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Morgan A. Gray, The Evolving Role of Artificial Intelligence in Law (2025). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5541658",
   "datePublished": "2025",
   "claim_type": "failure",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "rule-based systems of the 1980s"
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  }
 ],
 "description": "2 claims in the published works of Wulf A. Kaal carry the concept tag 'legal-expert-systems'. Derived node: a roster, not an adjudicated definition."
}