How I Built an App, and Gained an Understanding.
In September, I wrote a piece about changes in communication during COVID-19. In that article, I briefly posited that online learning is further separating law students, making us feel more isolated, and often, very alone. It is now the end of the Fall 2020 term and unfortunately, I believe the reality of my aforementioned claim has only become more clear.
In my Designing Legal Expert Systems class this semester, my group members and I have been building Cognivo, an app designed using Neota Logic. Our app provides greater accessibility to mental health resources for those in the legal profession. By leveraging legal technologies, Cognivo can automate the human expertise of a wellness professional, and make it accessible 24/7. My team and I believe that this application will bring the intuitive, understanding, and supportive help of a mental health practitioner, into the hands of all those in the legal industry, as well as those who care for them.
Through specific lines of questioning, Cognivo customizes its language to the user’s ethos. The app is able to identify how the user finds fulfilment, drive, and joy in their life. Cognivo taps into those inner layers, and presents the user with outputs that will be received in a way that they can connect with. Using Neota Logic, Cognivo’s application will score a user’s inputs, and identify what level of response is needed (High, Medium or Low). This will determine the type of resources that will be recommended to the user. Combined with symptom-specific inputs, the system will also recognize areas of greatest concern, and recommend accordingly.
I see incredible opportunity here. This technology could be licensed to individual firms with customized inputs and resources for each. Anonymized data could also be given to firms for Human Resources use to identify the most common areas of concern amongst its counsel. More specified prompts regarding situations related to the area of law that is practiced by the lawyer is another possibility.
For example, a family lawyer may want to disclose the emotional burden of their work, whereas a transactional lawyer may feel a deep pressure to make deals come together, and sincere shame when they fall apart.
Cognivo could be further personalized and expanded for certain geographic locations, as well as other professions. My team and I believe our product could significantly contribute to all corporate strategies, by promoting wellness and mental health. This is a universal issue. Tailored, customized resources are needed across all sectors.
Despite having clarity of the concept early on, the true impact of our invention has only recently become apparent to me. Throughout the design process, we spoke with experts and user groups. We asked questions about their emotions and feelings around their work as lawyers, law students, and legal staff. We heard stories about burnout, depression, and anxiety. Most concerning to me, was the resounding desire expressed by our participants to justify these experiences. Those in the legal profession, or those who will one day enter it, are constantly pressured to produce high quality, valuable work. It is the essence of their value.
I write this article in an effort to articulate the detriment of this philosophy. Failure to attend to decreased mental health and well-being can result in disruptions in the professional and personal areas of one’s life. If not resolved, these ailments can prove to be fatal.
Tools like Cognivo have the ability to offer help to those who find themselves in the grips of mental illness, but we must also question how to limit the victims of such experiences. A latent cure cannot always satisfy the detriment of the disease. I write this piece to open a discussion around mental health, specifically amongst those in the legal profession. If only to encourage pause and reflection on the current state of affairs, I hope my words resonate.
With the holiday season approaching, exam season soon beginning, and with recruitment on the horizon, check in with those you love — a member of the legal profession or not. Ask them the highlight of their day, or what made them smile. It will make a difference, I promise.
