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8.1.1 Systems Engineering and the Legal Profession – Revisited
Author(s) -
Mackey William F.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2000.tb00365.x
Subject(s) - process (computing) , engineering ethics , identification (biology) , engineering , economic justice , engineering management , corollary , risk analysis (engineering) , computer science , business , law , political science , botany , mathematics , pure mathematics , biology , operating system
This paper explores some of the similarities of the approaches taken by attorneys to a complex litigation case and those taken by engineers to a complex system development problem. The system development life cycle used in systems engineering has a direct corollary in the process of developing a legal case. Furthermore, the identification of technical, management, and legal risks; mitigation of those risks; and allocation of responsibility for them are of common interest to attorneys and engineering managers. This paper explores how attorneys can best assist engineers in the development process and how engineers can begin to address the problems of the litigation process. Selected topics concerned with the invention and patent process, the systems development life cycle, and the criminal justice system are also examined in this paper. These topics are evaluated to determine some of the ways the systems engineer and the attorney can improve the people, the process, and the tools used in these two professions. The thesis is that many of the problems to come in the 21st century can be solved by the collaboration of systems engineers and attorneys.