How can AI improve law?

Nov 29, 2022

Written By Claudia Chan

Lawyers are eager to improve access to justice and to ensure a better client-centred experience. With the help of AI, the legal sector can achieve just that. This article will first define what artificial intelligence is, then list five ways in which AI is being used to improve law.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science concerned with building systems or machines capable of mimicking human problem-solving and decision-making. The term can be a bit misleading in the context of law. It does not refer to the idea of a robot lawyer, rather it is more accurately defined as computer systems replicating legal tasks through machine learning.

Machine learning is a subset of AI that is commonly increasingly used to facilitate our personal and professional lives. It refers to the act of training machines to learn based on data input. This contrasts with traditional AI that simply mimics a human task as machine learning learns through looking for patterns to draw conclusions.

The legal profession often uses such systems - commonly referred as legal tech - to improve the law. The following are five modes of AI currently being used by the legal industry:

Five ways AI is improving the law

Smart contracts

A smart contract is a term used to describe a computer program intended to automatically organise, control or document all or parts of an agreement. Much like traditional contracts, they can set out the rules and penalties of an agreement and automatically enforce those obligations.

It is stored on a blockchain-based platform, and as such, they can be easily backed up and safe from cyber attacks. Since all the documents are stored on a blockchain, they are duplicated multiple times. This allows for the original document to be restored in the event of any data loss. Moreover, the encrypted nature of a blockchain also guards these contracts from cyber hacks.

Improve access to justice

Increasingly, AI tools are being developed to allow individuals and businesses to create their own legal documents, without having to go to a lawyer. These include services such as Rocket Lawyer that provide services to assemble documents.

Chatbots have also been developed to provide access to basic legal assistance - straight-forward legal questions that have straight-forward answers can be solved instantaneously. Long are the days of costly legal fees.

Similarly, courts have also embraced legal technology to improve access to justice and litigation. Courts are commonly using e-filing and video conferencing to digitalise the judicial process. Some courts even use e-Courts in multi-jurisdictional cases. These technologies can reduce the amount of time to process cases, and can be more cost-effective in the long run.

By the same token, legal transcription services such as Just:Access are transcribing oral arguments in court for litigants, and other interested parties. They provide a cheaper alternative to official court transcripts; this way, more people can afford to learn more about their case.

Legal research

This aspect of AI technology is primarily used to help those in the legal sector - students and practitioners alike. AI-powered legal research software allows legal professionals to scan and search large amounts of statutes, jurisdictions, case law, and more. Lawyers carry out more comprehensive research faster, thus saving clients time and money, as well as having more time for other tasks.

We can see websites such as LexisNexis and Practical Law are constantly improving their search engines to allow lawyers to do legal research effectively. Most notably, they do this by including an ‘advanced search’ mode. More effective methods of legal research also enable greater productivity as lawyers can gather data faster.

Furthermore, some legal AI tools (Lex Machina) also help lawyers create a strategy based on previous outcomes in similar cases. Intellect legal research software like this allows for lawyers to test various fact patterns or legal analysis to identify the best strategy for their case, thus allowing them to serve their clients better.

E-discovery

This is a common form of AI in law. The algorithm scans electronic information to obtain information relevant to a case or a claim in seconds. It allows for lawyers to scan documents using specific search terms, or specific parameters, such as dates, names or location.

Less time is spent carrying out manual tasks such as scanning hard copies of documents, thus allowing for lawyers to spend more time discovering and analysing the more relevant information. As a result of this, law firms can provide better services for their clients.

Contract management and automation

Contract automation AI can automatically screen contracts for missing key clauses and replaces vague language with pre-approved clauses. It generates, manages and stores contracts digitally, thus saving lawyers time. Given that contracts are everywhere in the commercial world, having a software that can manage the process from start to finish allows for greater control.

Legal Technology