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40 A.L.I. Rep. 1 (2017-2018)

handle is hein.ali/alireporter0040 and id is 1 raw text is: R THE ALI Reporter The Wisdom of Crowds By William F Lee of WilmerHale ADAPTED FROM A SPEECH PRESENTED AT THE 89TH ANNUAL MEETING I have been a member of this extraordinary institution for 30 years. For all of us, the ALI has been a meaningful and special organization. Since my election, much has changed in law practice, and much has changed at the Institute as well. One of those changes- a change that is profound and will have far-reaching effects- is the need for all of us in the profession to work and think effectively as leaders and team members in the practice of law. To use the title of the well-known book, the profession has come to recognize and need The Wisdom of Crowds. How does this relate to The American Law Institute, and what does it mean for The American Law Institute? The ALI is one of the pioneers of this very concept. When the Institute was formed in 1923, it immediately issued drafts of Restatements of various totems of the legal profession: Agency, Contracts, Property, Torts, Restitution, Conflict of Laws, and more. These Restatements, and more broadly the Institute's collaborative process for issuing its Restatements, its Principles, its Model Codes, are truly, in my view, among the best and earliest examples of this concept. Each of these efforts demonstrated that the work of a group as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and the wisdom of the crowd is greater than any of us individually. The Institute's process for developing these publications is a prime example, in myview, of the success that comes from aggregating the wisdom and experience of many very, very smart people on a particular subject to develop the best statement of the law that a collective group can provide. As we prepare for our 95th Annual Meeting, I hope we will all consider just how the Institute and the profession in general can use this model, the wisdom of the crowd, to address the new challenges of the American legal landscape. The Institute itself is doing it. It is addressing the developments in the law of torts, property, and other legal constructs that have existed since the time of Blackstone. But it is also bringing to bear its collective wisdom on contemporary areas: policing, international arbitration, data privacy, and government ethics. The concepts of leadership, teamwork, and collective effort are, of course, not discipline dependent. I mentioned the fascinating book, by James Surowiecki, The Wisdom of Crowds. It has nothing to do with law practice. It has nothing to do with most of what you are doing every day. But it provides a compelling case for the conclusion that the collective wisdom of groups is better suited to solve problems and come to wise decisions than an elite few. continued on page 5

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