[resiros]

I think most interesting computer science fields are actually application of CS in other domains.

Science changed a lot in the last decades, moving from a genius in a room looking at the data and coming up with grand theory to have vast amounts of data that no single human can make sense of. The work of the computer scientist is to quickly understand problems from various fields then solve it using tailor-made algorithm that leverage the prior knowledge, the data structure.

One of such interesting fields (which I'm working on), is computational biology. We're working on leveraging sparse experimental data for protein structure prediction. To do that, we end up using algorithms and ideas from different various CS fields, from machine learning, to robotics, to distributed systems. Other people are working on exciting fields like computation protein design, studying drug protein interaction in silico..

[niklasd]

Yes! I studied law before CS and now I learn all these algorithms which deal with questions about how to do something efficiently – and these algorithms are unkown by all these people thinking about important questions in this field.

And I think this also applies to other fields. I gave the book "Algorithms To Live By" (which is basically an overview of CS algorithms) to a medicine student and he was immediately inspiried and came up with ideas on how to apply these ideas on his research. CS algorithms are just so basically true that I think they should be more universally known.

[terminalcommand]

Slightly off-topic but I wanted to ask why and when did you start studying CS after law.

I recently graduated from law school and now am an intern at a law firm. I have a strong interest for CS, and it bothered me for a long time that I went to law school instead of CS.

I'v overcome those feelings over the years and dedicated myself to become a lawyer. But your post caught my interest.

I'd be glad if you could share some of the story behind you studying cs after getting your law degree.

[niklasd]

After my law degree I worked for a year in a big international law firm (I didn't yet had my license, so I was a kind of trainee – similar to you position right now). I realised that there is a huge interest in technical solutions to make the work more efficient (often labeled as "Legal Tech"). But there was very little actual understanding of technologie, which I think is one of the reasons why there aren't yet many real world application which are really making a difference. That was when I decided to go back to university for a CS degree.

Some learnings so far: 1) I get great feedback for my decision from other lawyers, who are genereally very interested but not well versed in tech. 2) Legal Tech feels a bit overhyped right now, but eventually it will change the field drastically. Law firms need lawyers who have technical skills. And that doesn't necessarily mean a whole CS degree, some programming skills etc. will already do it.

I personally love tech that much that I don't want to go back to a law firm to practise law, but rather actually develop technology. But for you, if you want to become a lawyer, I can promise you that you will find a fertil ground for your interest. It soon will be one of the most sought after skills for law firms. So if you learn some programming (maybe you already know some), take some online courses (there are great resources for CS online), then the next time your law firm gets offered a (as magic advertised) ML tool or needs to implement a new tech solution which really influcences the workflow, you will be the star of the firm for being a critical but competent colleague. Or if you're starting your own law firm, I think there is great potential for a more automated workflow. In your position, I would be very glad for you CS interest – you in the right field and it is the right time for it!:)

[terminalcommand]

Thanks a lot for your detailed and motivating answer. Actually I know quite a bit about programming. But generally try to hide that I'm highly interested in computers. Because if anyone notices, I get asked why I chose to study law in the first place. Over the years I learned not to look like a computer nerd and how to look and behave like a lawyer. I also had some problems with interpersonal communication, but through trial and error I've become socially adept and now I can get things done.

It is really nice to hear that my skills and interest in computers won't go wasted in practicing law. I hope my firm also gets offered an ML tool where I can show my skills. For now I can navigate the document management systems with ease, use some word add-ins (contract companion etc.), I guess that'll change in time and I'll have access to more sophisticated tools.

[trampypizza]

If you don't mind me asking - whereabouts (geographically) are you based? I'm hoping to get into law after a couple of years working in technology but I haven't been able to find that much information online about the meeting point of law and technology and my searches haven't found me any communities for law similar to HN for technology.

[niklasd]

Germany. If you look up Legal Tech meetups (often hosted by law firms) you will find some law students/lawyers interested in tech. But it's still a small community. And for real techies in law, that's an even smaller pool of people.

[trampypizza]

Cool, what you said about going to do another degree gave me the impression you were probably based in Europe! I'm in the UK myself. Yeah I think that's probably the way to go, thanks for the advice.

[Maven911]

I would love to work with you or bounce off some ideas on how to changeup the somewhat legacy legal tech

[trampypizza]

I'm gonna go one step further with the off-topicness. Do you get much of an opportunity working within law to focus on technology?

I'm about to go back to University to study law but I would love to be able to combine Law with technology. Seems like an interesting area.

[niklasd]

Possible jobs include:

- Working as a lawyer in a law firm and being the expert/contact person for any tech stuff.

- Working as project mananger for Legal Tech in a law firm (Magic Circle law firms are already having these jobs)

- Being a lawyer specialised in IT/tech/IP laws, which require a domain understanding.

- Working for or founding a Legal Tech start-up.

- Owning a law firm that is having an automated workflow which is specifically engineered.

Right now, there aren't too many jobs on the market. But they will become more. And I can promise you, for most of all people tech is a black box (which is also bothering people), and with it being more and more integraded in our workflows, being tech savy will become more important in virtually any job (including government etc.).

[trampypizza]

It's good to hear that there are plenty of technology focused opportunities in the legal profession. The only one I had thought about prior to your comment was specialising in IP and technology, so I will definitely look into those other avenues.

[sharadov]

I worked for Legalzoom in the United States for about 5 years, there is a lot of opportunity for disruption, and at last count there were re 500 something startups in the US. A combo of law and tech would be awesome, that's what one of our co-founders who was a developer did. He went back to school and got a law degree.

[Raphaellll]

In Germany computer science is called 'Informatik'. I think this is a better name for what we are doing. It is the science of information and how to efficiently store, process and transform it. The computer is just a tool for it but the methods and algorithms can also be applied in smaller scale and even analog in different areas.

[_flow]

I also did law at University instead of CS as I had originally planned. Completed a conversion MSc into computing last year and now work as a developer.

I'm intrigued at what you are referring to by the important questions in law, as they relate to CS algorithms?

[DanielBMarkham]

Agreed. CS is the study of translating human needs into formal systems. In a way, it's "applied philosophy".

I think taking CS and "bouncing it off" of other disciplines is where the real magic happens.

[austinjp]

Fully agree with this. I'm amazed that even in universities and similar organisations, nobody from Dept X wanders into Dept Y and simply asks "I'm working on this problem, anybody got any ideas?"

It happens, but far too rarely.

Universities understand silos. Supervisors get nervous when a student wants or needs to work with another department. There are reasons for this: supervision and grading become hard, and funding applications become complex. But this simply uncovers the depth of the silo effect.

Arts departments are at the vanguard here. You'll be far more likely to find a fashion PhD working with a biologist than you would to find a comp sci PhD working with a lawyer. Perhaps medicine gets it too, but even then it's largely the lab-based stuff like image processing. The clinical and public health worlds are only starting to gain exposure.

That's my experience anyway, hopefully others have counter experiences.

[bovermyer]

One field where CS might be put to interesting use is history.

Utilizing machine learning to process and analyze historical texts could shine a light on patterns that have gone unnoticed thus far.

[balladeer]

I was looking for a MS in CS (looked in EU; as that's where I want to go for my MS) that would've help me with application of CS in liberal arts. I am specifically interested in fields like literature, history, and archaeology. Couldn't find anything.

I would want something where it doesn't just enabled me use CS tools and algo to apply to works in those fields (a crude example would be: use of some ML also on Shakespeare's works) but also lets me study both that field and CS.

[c0nfused]

You should look into the digital humanities. Basically, its a big basket, at least on the US side of the pond, where all that stuff goes. The downside is that you are probably not going to get your MS in CS through it.

[denzil_correa]

> We're working on leveraging sparse experimental data for protein structure prediction. To do that, we end up using algorithms and ideas from different various CS fields, from machine learning, to robotics, to distributed systems. Other people are working on exciting fields like computation protein design, studying drug protein interaction in silico..

Are there particular methods you use to deal with little and sparse data?

[resiros]

We're basically merging the sparse experimental data we get with other priors we have (the energy landscape, residue-residue contacts predicted from evolutionary data) in a Expectation Maximization kind of algorithm, where each step you get better predictions (in the sense of they satisfy the experimental data while agreeing with the priors from the problem (low energy, nice fold..).

[tastyham]

Nothing in your example is being "leveraged". "Use" is the word you're looking for.

[resiros]

leverage: use (something) to maximum advantage. "the organization needs to leverage its key resources"