AI Lawyers - Would You Trust One?

Yes you can download the app today and let AI defend you.

The use of AI is growing at a phenomenal rate and I find the future quite frightening. We will be seeing robocops on our streets within 10 years, robot soldiers and robot surgeons in our hospitals.

AI has got its grips firmly on the legal profession, but now there may be a way that it can work for the man in the street and not the big bill lawyers on Wall Street.

Current uses of AI in the legal profession

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used in the legal profession to assist with a variety of tasks, including document review, contract analysis, and prediction of legal outcomes.

• One of the most common uses of AI in the legal field is in e-discovery, the process of identifying and gathering electronic data that is relevant to a legal case. AI-powered tools can quickly scan through large volumes of data, such as emails and other documents, to identify relevant information and flag it for further review by human lawyers. Of course that relies on the basis that all relevant materials have by now been digitised and are available online.
• AI is also being used to assist with contract analysis. By analyzing large volumes of contracts, AI can help lawyers identify common patterns, clauses, and language that may be relevant to a particular legal dispute.
• In recent years, AI has been used to predict the outcome of legal cases. This can be done by analyzing data from past cases, including information about the parties involved, the legal issues at stake, and the outcomes of those cases.
• AI is also being used to help lawyers with legal research. It can assist in finding relevant case law and statutes, identify key legal concepts and principles, and provide summaries of legal decisions.

There are several other uses;

• AI is also used for legal document automation
• it can assist in drafting legal documents, such as contracts and legal briefs, by providing pre-written clauses, language and suggestions to lawyers

• AI can help lawyers with improving their workflow and efficiency
• AI-powered virtual legal assistants are also becoming more common, they can provide legal advice and assist with legal research, answer common legal questions, and even help with document preparation
• AI is also being used to help with legal case management and tracking, it can assist with scheduling, reminders, and notifications for deadlines, court appearances, and other important events related to a legal case. I wish my ex-lawyer had one of those - she missed a deadline and screwed up my divorce (she has since been disbarred, fingers in the cash register).

These uses of AI are now fairly widespread in the legal profession, with the advantage of being able to eliminate many of the lower skilled jobs and perhaps cutting the headcount of paralegals. More money left over for the head honchos. Or maybe not.

And next - defence by AI?

Do No Pay is generating headlines with this latest offer as well as generating a lot of flak.

There are suggestions that they have been naughty in the past by 'spamming' their offer in telemarketing texts and were subject to a proposed class action suit.

They defended the suit and won.

That was a win in the Federal Court but what is not clear is whether the defence was by AI.

As you would expect, the lawyers are arguing this out - no electronic devices in Supreme Court, the risk of being disbarred for a mere $1m and so on.

Several of the Twittees were in favour of AI judges and how this might lower the cost of legal access [as well as helping to reduce backlogs].

You can imagine an AI judge with access to all of the case law, like a chess engine. Disputants submit cases and the AI judge generates questions in response till case can be decided. Could have a human judge "sign off" on decision after review. May vastly lower cost of access. - Twitter

Who are DoNotPay.com?

DoNotPay is a legal services chatbot founded by Joshua Browder, a British-American entrepreneur. The chatbot was originally built to contest parking tickets, but has expanded to include other services as well. As a "robot lawyer," DoNotPay is a downloadable mobile application that makes use of artificial intelligence to provide legal services, with a subscription cost of $36 every three months. It is currently available in the United Kingdom and United States (in all 50 states). (Wikipedia as of 18 January 2023)

It seems that the days of barrack room lawyers may be dead.

Some great features too

According to their page on Wikipedia:

• DoNotPay has also expanded to include features that help users obtain refunds on flight tickets and hotel bookings, cancel free trials, sue people, offer legal services relating to social issues such as asylum applications and housing for the homeless, seek claims from Equifax during the aftermath of its security breach, provide automated services to users seeking to obtain U.S. visas and green cards.

• DoNotPay has also advised students at Stanford University to waive their Student Activities Fees.

• DoNotPay offers a Free Trial Card feature which gives users a virtual credit card number that can be used to sign up for free online trials (such as Netflix and Spotify). As soon as the free trial period ends, the card automatically declines any charges.

I've got to admit that there are some handy features there and when I looked at their website I could not believe the extent of the full range of features. There are several I could use right away (too late for the divorce unfortunately).

Here's just one:

Information is the most valuable resource today, and all data miners need to gain access to your personal information is your phone number. This is concerning since most services ask for your phone number in order to create an account. We've compiled an extensive library of resources that will show you how to leverage burner phones to completely bypass phone verification.

I have no affiliation at all with the company or people.

And if you are really stuck, Better Call Saul.

***