ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN LAW- SUPPORT SYSTEM OR REPLACEMENT

Author- Sachinda Boro, J.B Law College, Guwahati, Assam.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming more common in the legal field, and people are now asking an important question: is AI just a tool to help lawyers or can it take their jobs as well? 

This article mostly focuses on how AI makes legal work easier, like helping with case study, writing documents, drafting contracts, helping in legal research etc. It explains how AI can save time and help more people get legal support. But on the other hand it also points out some problems. AI is not always accurate, and it cannot fully understand right and wrong the way humans do. There’s also a worry that AI could replace human judgment, which is very important in legal work. 

This article says that while AI is highly useful, it can never fully replace humans, as it lacks independent thought and is unable to handle complex tasks like those performed by lawyers, it can only assist people.

These days technology has evolved so much that it has integrated in nearly every sector, from engineering to healthcare and now it has gradually entered the law field as well. The legal profession is generally dependent on human knowledge and skills, offering not only practical but also recognises the client's emotional state. However, we are now witnessing technological revolution, which is transforming the legal field. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is playing a big role in this change. It helps make legal work faster and easier and can even find useful information that was hard to get before. AI is now used to help lawyers with research, write documents, and handle simple tasks like checking contracts. Because of this, more law firms, courts, and legal tech companies are starting to use AI.

A key question is whether AI is simply a tool to support lawyers or if it could eventually take over their jobs. There are two sides to consider. On one hand, AI helps by making legal work faster and easier, handling tasks like research and document writing. On the other hand, depending too much on AI raises concerns, including ethical issues and the loss of human judgement.  When we look at real examples of how AI is being used in law today, it’s possible to explore whether AI should remain a helpful assistant or if it might one day replace human lawyers. 

MEANING-

A.I is a computer system that can perform complex tasks that generally only humans could do. A.I responds to human language as they are programmed like that. It performs independently without anyone’s help. The main reason for the growth of A.I is to help humans in their tasks which usually take long hours to complete like- thinking, solving problems, making decisions etc. 

Artificial Intelligence (A.I) in the legal field is growing with each passing day. Previously when there was no A.I at that time the lawyers had to spend hours drafting documents, reading client’s files, understanding the case, scheduling day and a lot more, but now with the help of A.I these kinds of tasks can be done in no time or less time. Tasks which are repetitive can be done by Artificial Intelligence (A.I) very smoothly. A.I has not only helped  lawyers to save time and energy or money, but now lawyers can give attention to some other important work like- meeting with clients, going to court, visiting police station, leaving the repetitive tasks workload on A.I.  

AI AS AN ASSISTANT-

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a very supportive tool for lawyers. It makes the boring time consuming tasks effortless by helping them work faster and make fewer mistakes. Here are some of the ways AI is helping in legal work-

• Easier Legal Research and Document Check-

Legal research consumes a lot of time and energy of lawyers, but with the support of A.I research can be easier. Lawyers often have to go through many past cases, laws, and judgments. AI can quickly find the most useful cases and legal information. It can also check contracts and documents for any kind of mistakes present in the documents. This will help lawyers to avoid errors and focus on the many other vital parts of the case.

• Helping with Office Work-

Lawyers deal with a lot of small office tasks which are repetitive and time consuming, for example- scheduling meetings, sending bills, reminders etc. in such tasks lawyers can rely on A.I and it can also help to manage to keep track record on the ongoing case, it can give automatic replies to clients like chat bots, hence, it can make the lawyers work easy. 

• Affordable Legal Costs-

Legal help can be really expensive. That's why the poor people sometimes don’t even dare to take help from the lawyers. Lawyers often can’t help it, as they need to dedicate a lot of time, energy and attention to each case, so it becomes necessary for them to charge large, fixed amounts from the clients. However, now with the help of A.I, legal help can be affordable since A.I can perform the easy or repetitive tasks and it will make legal services cheaper and easier.

• Monitoring Legal Risks-

There are some fields where many rules and laws are needed to be followed like- health, finance, and business. So, A.I can keep track of these laws and rules and can alert lawyers if something goes wrong or may go wrong. This will prevent legal trouble before it happens. 

• Talking To Clients-

Artificial Intelligence (A.I) can be used like chat-bots to talk with the client for the initial stage where the A.I will take the basic information from the client like- what is their name, what case it is criminal or civil, negotiate with the fees and many more. This will save time and energy for the lawyers.

• Predicting Case results-

Artificial Intelligence (A.I) can look into old court cases and can guess what may happen in similar cases. It studies how judges had made decisions earlier and what proof or evidence judges may ask for this will give the lawyer enough time to prepare and present in the court.

• Writing Legal Documents-

Artificial Intelligence (A.I) is a smart tool; it can help writing legal documents, drafting legal papers, and making contracts or agreements. AI reduces errors, follows the latest laws and rules; it not only helps to save time and energy.

AI AS A POTENTIAL SUBSTITUTE-

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a very important tool not only in the legal field but in every possible field. People are now beginning to see the potential of A.I as it is growing slowly but surely. Many people believe that A.I is just a tool for assistance but still there are strong arguments that show that AI has a potential to take over human roles that are being carried out traditionally as human lawyers. Some of the reasons why AI can contribute to serve as a replacement in the legal field are as follows-

• Reducing the cost of Legal Services-

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used to reduce the cost of legal services as; AI is used in many countries to save time and energy of lawyers which is wasted in drafting documents, making contracts and agreements, and collecting basic information of the case from clients. Hence, these factors can make the legal services affordable for every person.

• Improving Speed and Efficiency-

The significant advantage of using AI in the legal field is the tasks which are done by human lawyers take hours or days that can be done by an AI in seconds. This helps in fast and speedy results and more accurate work. A country like India, where there’s already too much of a burden in the court due to many cases, AI can be of good help. This can lead to quicker judgements and less delays in the legal system.

• Reducing the Burden of Judicial System-

There is no doubt that our country has millions of pending cases. These pending cases not only delay justice but also break the belief of people in the judiciary. AI can help to reduce the burden of the judicial system by assisting the judges and lawyers. AI can help to sort out cases that are urgent and need immediate action, assist with preparing trials, it can even predict the possible outcomes of the case. India currently needs speedy justice and reduction of burden from the judicial system which can be smoothly done with the help of AI.

• Making Legal Help more Accessible-

In our country, especially in rural or low income areas, people don’t have access to proper legal services. This can be due to any reason such as- high lawyer fees, lack of knowledge, or simply because there are no legal professionals nearby. AI can help solve this problem by offering basic legal assistance through virtual assistants or chat bots.

AI will help to answer simple legal queries and it can assist people in what to do and what not to do at a very nominal fee. This will make a big change in the legal industry where it was somewhere believed that only rich people can afford legal assistance but AI will prove it wrong.

• Better Accuracy and Less Mistakes-

Legal work requires lawyers to be very precise, especially when going through contracts and understanding legal rules. Sometimes even experienced lawyers may make mistakes. AI is good at reading documents and contracts and finding errors in no time. In the legal field it is very important to stay updated with the new laws and rules so AI can be very helpful for such tasks. AI makes sure to use the latest rules and laws and reduce the probability of mistakes and future legal issues.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has improved a lot in the past few years, mostly in the field like- automation, e-commerce, and robotics. Gradually, it has entered the legal world as well, where AI is being used to draft documents, create contracts and agreements, conduct legal research, and predict outcomes based on past similar cases. Even with all its capabilities, AI still lacks in some areas and can never truly compete with humans. It cannot replace lawyers because it falls short in many areas where only human lawyers can handle. AI simply cannot replace human lawyers because of the following reasons-

• Ethical and Emotional Judgment-

The major reason why AI cannot replace human lawyers is that it lacks the ability to understand and respond to emotional issues. Human lawyers handle many aspects where they must not only understand the legal aspects but also connect with the emotional side of the victim, so it requires emotional presence which AI does not have. In situations like domestic violence, divorce cases, claiming child’s custody, family disputes, lawyers not only have to apply the law but also need to be understanding, empathetic towards their clients and show compassion. A good lawyer always knows how to balance these two aspects, being understanding with clients while also considering the facts. AI on the other hand is not programmed to understand feelings or emotions and align them with the law. It can never replace the human touch that clients need during difficult times because, beyond legal help, people come with the hope that their lawyer will understand them and support them when things are tough.

• Courtroom Advocacy and Human Presence-

Artificial Intelligence (AI) falls short in the courtroom because a lawyer must be able to argue facts while also connecting with judges on an emotional level. Courtrooms have rules and regulations that must be followed, such as dressing appropriately, making respectful arguments, cross- examining witnesses, and presenting evidence. AI may not be able to follow these requirements. AI simply cannot take the place of skilled human advocate. 

• Legal Responsibility Accountability-

People depend on lawyers because they follow legal standards and ethics. If a lawyer gives wrong advice or makes serious mistakes then they can lose their license or face punishment for their actions. As a result of this accountability, lawyers avoid making mistakes and act carefully in the best interest of their client’s. However, AI cannot be held accountable because it is not a real person. It cannot be sued or held responsible for its mistakes. In courtrooms, only licensed professionals are allowed, which means AI is not permitted to give legal advice or represent clients. AI always needs to be monitored by humans, which makes it incapable of functioning as a lawyer in the way humans can.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the legal field is evolving with each passing day. Earlier, when there was no AI, human lawyers had to perform time consuming tasks by themselves. But today, with the help of AI, tasks like filing documents, drafting contracts and agreements, and conducting legal research can be done quickly and very efficiently. AI has been proven to be very effective for lawyers. In our country, where courts are heavily burdened, AI tools can be very helpful. AI can reduce the workload on courts and legal professionals, while also helping to deliver justice more quickly. AI can also make legal services more affordable, so people from all classes, including those in rural areas who struggle to access quality legal help, can afford them.  AI handles simple legal tasks like reviewing contracts, predicting case outcomes, which allows lawyers to focus on more important matters. This gives them time for tasks that cannot be avoided, such as, visiting police stations, attending court hearings, having one-on-one conversation with clients. AI is a helpful assistant that enhances a lawyer's abilities and improves the quality of their work. It is also very useful for people who need legal assistance with simple tasks, such as, drafting rent agreement, understanding their legal right and duties, knowing which legal section applies to a particular case, or finding out where to seek legal help.

However, no matter how perfect AI becomes, it can never replace human lawyers because it lacks human empathy and emotional understanding, which almost every client looks for in a lawyer. In courtrooms, AI also falls short because only licensed legal professionals are allowed to represent clients. While AI may be helpful to lawyers and judges, it cannot take their place. Also, AI cannot be held accountable for its mistakes. It can’t be sued or punished because it is not a human and does not have its own mind. On the other hand, human lawyers can be held liable and punished if they make serious mistakes.

In summary, AI has great potential to be a helpful assistant, but it can never take the place of human lawyers, as it lacks emotional support and empathy for clients. AI will serve as a support system within the legal field, but not as a replacement. The future of law lies in AI working alongside human lawyers and judges, not replacing them, because AI still needs to be monitored by humans.