Legal analytics and the legal profession

Like any other business, the legal industry also adopts technological advancement like legal analytics which includes modern tech tools e.g Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, natural language processing, pattern matching technology etc. to facilitate the process of getting justice. Albeit historically, law and technology barely collaborated with each other. It is either because of the incomputable nature of law or lack of in-depth research to make technology compatible with the needs of legal services. The trend changed especially during the time of COVID-19 when intervention of technology in judicial processes got wider acceptance all over the planet.

Legal analytics consists of many different approaches, for example, some AI systems attempt to predict the outcomes of a lawsuit, identify the trend of judgments of a particular judge, analyse evidence, mine data from large chunks of documents, etc. A legal analytics device is also competent to take advisory roles by gathering evidence or estimating recidivism rates based on readily available statistics that save both time and labour.

It is clear that computational methodologies could be beneficial for legal industry if we can ensure meticulous innovation and use. The notion of rule of law, respect for human rights, non discrimination, and democratic values, along with robust ethical guidelines and responsible use of these tools, must be included within problem definition, design, data collection, and data cleaning, training, deploying, monitoring, and maintaining product platforms and systems.

Law chambers deploy legal analytics tools in their daily functions such as legislation and case law analysis, case management, automated contract review, pleadings, and contract drafting to add greater value for their clients. Apart from these, there are some access to justice tools, which support even non-lawyers in engaging with legal processes. For basic legal needs, access to legal services might come in the form of smartphones or other devices that can provide consumers with a catalogue of their legal rights and obligations.

The installation of legal analytics tools in the legal industry presents several significant challenges concerning the legal profession. Among them, whether AI-run robots are going to replace human judges and lawyers in court in the coming days is the most prominent. There is also a real danger of providing legal advice, support, and guidance to a non-lawyer by legal analytics tools. Lawyering is a highly technical and sophisticated profession that needs to maintain certain standards and expertise. Lawyers have a duty to provide competent representation and clear information to their clients which cannot be monitored when it is provided by legal analytics tools. 

Apart from the above, incorporating legal analytics technologies into the legal profession may create issues relating to discrimination and biases as well. AI tools are usually trained by humans with precedents. Consequently, AI is merely trained to think and act per the previous decisions that may have biases and discriminatory elements in them. And lastly, AI often requires access to sensitive legal data and documents. Ensuring proper data protection and preventing unauthorised access is crucial for maintaining client confidentiality and complying with privacy regulations.

Weighing the mentioned points, it is clear that new computational technologies could be beneficial for the industry if we can ensure meticulous innovation and use. The notion of the rule of law, respect for human rights, non-discrimination, and democratic values along with robust ethical guidelines and responsible use of these tools must be included within problem definition, design, data collection, and data cleaning, training, deploying, monitoring, and maintaining products, platforms, and systems.

The author is doctoral researcher in legal analytics at the University of Galway School of Law, Republic of Ireland.