Could your (or maybe my) next lawyer be a robot? It seems far-fetched, but artificial intelligence (AI) software systems are increasingly being used by the legal community as well.
Take the DoNotPay app, for example. Its creator Joshua browder he describes her as “the world's first robot lawyer”. What does DoNotPay do? Simple, so to speak. He helps users draft legal letters, for starters. Just tell its chatbot what the problem is (for example appealing a fine) and it will suggest the best legal language to use.
People can type their own version of a topic in their own words, and software with a machine learning model matches it with a legally correct way of saying it.
Joshua browder, DoNotPay
DoNotPay, the story of a progenitor
The origins of the first “robot lawyer” date back to 2015, in London, when Browder was 18 years old. “I was a terrible driver,” he says. “I was getting a lot of parking tickets, and I couldn't afford to pay them.”
After much research Browder eventually found the best ways to contest the tickets. “If you know the right things to say, you can save a lot of time and money.” Rather than copying and pasting the same document every time, Browder thought this seemed like “the perfect job for software.” This is how he created the first version of DoNotPay, in just a few weeks.
"The lawyer" grows larger.
The app has since spread to the UK and US. Now the robot lawyer has “extended its services”, and can help the user write letters dealing with a range of issues. Insurance claims? Request for tourist visas? Complaints to companies or local authorities? Refunds for canceled vacations or gym membership cancellations? No problem. And Browder also reports that these last two services have increased dramatically during the pandemic.
DoNotPay now claims to have 150.000 paying subscribers. As it should be, obviously the robot lawyer has his haters. Some say its legal advice it's not accurate enough. There are also some admirers, however, and some flattering results: last year won an award by the American Bar Association for increasing legal access.
How many lawsuits does it actually win?
Data provided by the company shows an overall success rate of 80%, (65% for parking complaints, because “some people are to blame”).
What do “human colleagues” think? You might think that a real lawyer would fear AI invading his territory. None of this, in fact: some professionals are satisfied, since the software can be used to quickly review and sort large quantities of case documents. In other words: you didn't lose a job, but you gained an assistant.
Robot lawyer, the case is yours
One such happy user is Sally Hobson, lawyer at London law firm The 36 Group, who handles criminal cases. Recently he used theartificial intelligence even in a complex murder trial.
The case involved the need to quickly analyze more than 10.000 documents. The software accomplished the task four weeks faster than it would have required humans, saving £ 50.000 in the process.
In short, the artificial lawyer is loved: more than 300 law firms in 55 countries around the world use him, working in 80 languages. AI doesn't just help lawyers sort through documentary evidence. It can now also help them prepare and structure their case and look for any relevant legal precedents.
Other examples of use
Laurence Lieberman, who heads the litigation digitization program at London-based law firm Taylor Wessing, uses such software, which was developed by an Israeli company called Argue.
“You upload your case summary and your briefs, and he figures out who the key players are,” he says. “Finally, artificial intelligence links them together and puts together a timeline of key events.”
For his part Bruce Braud, chief technology officer of DeloitteLegal, the legal arm of accounting giant Deloitte, says its software system TAXI can analyze the historical data of the courts for similar cases of tax appeal.
The company says it can correctly predict how appeals will be determined 70% of the time. “It provides a more quantifiable way of what your probability of success is, which you can use to determine whether you should proceed,” adds Braude.
The future robot lawyer: how close are we?
In short, as I wrote to you, artificial intelligence can help write legal letters or assist a human lawyer. But will we ever see a time of “robot law firms,” or even robot judges?
I don't think it will happen anytime soon, I'll be honest. But not everyone thinks like me.
Professor Richard susskind, who chairs the Lord Chief Justice of England's AI advisory group, says that in the 80s he was genuinely horrified by the idea of a computer judge. Today he is no longer. Susskind points out that even before Covid “Brazil had over 100 million backlogs of court cases”. There is no way human judges and lawyers can handle such a load.
A robot lawyer might someday. Pardon. It will be able.
If an AI system can very accurately (say with 95% probability) predict the outcome of judicial decisions, perhaps we will start to think about treating these predictions as binding determinations, especially in countries that have incredibly large backlogs.
