Legal Contexts and AI
A helpful tool or an overwhelming experience? ….Unsplash
Law is often perceived as a field that is rather non-technological, even old fashioned.[1] For example, an article in the Australian Financial Review about the growth in online legal services includes a photograph of a barrister’s wig, sitting adjacent to a shelf of bound copies of the Australian Law Reports.[2] And yet, new technologies emerge each day and impact a wide range of professions. Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) is a rapidly growing technology that already has a significant impact on a variety of different fields, including the legal field. AI is utilised for many purposes in the legal field, including enhancing efficiency and accuracy as well as conducting legal research. AI also has found its way into law schools themselves. While AI appears overwhelming to many, it will continue to have an impact on the legal profession. Therefore, it is important for legal professionals to take advantage of the benefits offered by technological advancements, while simultaneously managing its challenges effectively.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has defined AI as a “machine-based system that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physician or virtual environments.”[3] In summary, it is a technology that is supposed to mimic human intelligence by the way it approaches data and data-related tasks. It is no wonder that it’s taken the world by storm - it makes many tasks much simpler at the first glance. Justice Kunc described the use and regulation of AI as something that will be “one of the major issues of 2024.”[4] There has already been attempts to address the impact and challenges of the AI such as AI Decision-Making and the Courts: A Guide for Judges, Tribunal Members and Court Administrators, which presents a brief overview of a variety of AI and automated decision-making tools to direct the courts and tribunals on how and if to use these technologies.[5] They have the potential for tasks such as summarising large bodies of texts, and providing suggestions for writing and composing information.[6] However, there are tasks for which it is better to not resort to their use; conducting legal research using AI commonly tops this category as AI may generate non-existent sources and false or poor legal analysis misaligned with tenants of basic logic and human reasoning.[7] Hence, there are strong arguments on both sides as to the usefulness of AI in the legal profession. When it comes to assessing the perceived pros and cons of this technology, it is important to carefully consider how it may affect both education and practice.
Recent research found that AI models can now perform at an A+ level on some law school final exams.[8] This information forces law tutors to determine how much of a threat AI cheating poses and to assess AI’s abilities to mimic high-quality human performance.[9] Most law students are familiarised with rules surrounding AI in their very first year of studies - they are encouraged to consider academic integrity seriously. Despite this, one of the more serious challenges that AI poses in the context of legal education are the increasing possibilities of dishonesty as students’ may feel tempted to submit work that is not their own. Furthermore, another study found that the current generative AI models are comparatively less capable when it comes to university-level exams, with Criminal Law exams considered in this specific case. It was found that a considerable weakness of AI-generated answers was the lack of sophisticated critical legal analysis, despite the models demonstrating a stronger capacity for critical analysis in short-answer and short essay questions.[10] The reason for this was determined to be the level of complexity that is expected in real-world legal scenarios.[11] Based on this, it can be concluded that AI in education poses not only a risk of academic dishonesty, but also a risk of students not developing nuanced and complex legal analysis skills when over-reliant on AI. Nevertheless, it is a quickly developing technology that knowing may improve career-prospect for students. They will be familiar with already utilised tools in the profession, which reflects well in the job market where expectations extend beyond achieving a certain grade.[12] Still, it is a challenge in terms of originality and acquiring adequate knowledge.
Beyond law school, these technological developments affect the practice of law itself; this has always been the case, even before the AI. For example, successive communications technologies have influenced communicating with clients and other parties of interest.[13] Case management softwares have increased in sophistication and automation.[14] With the development of deep learning systems and the rapid increase in data collection, it may be argued that AI will be incorporated into the judicial process in some form.[15] The Brennan Center for Justice noted that states are increasingly turning towards to its use in risk assessment tools.[16] This raises questions about the factors that are allowed to play a part in decisions with significant implications - for both individual people and society.[17] Perry, Durkin, and Breznik argue that no machine yet has developed the capacity to weigh different arguments and engage in an active intellectual process that a human mind does. On one hand, one may argue that using some kind of automated models in the justice system may decrease the risk of potential biases, however, ensuring that important decisions affecting individual rights and freedoms are made by humans will include human values and emotions such as mercy and compassion.[18] On top of that, it is important to note that machines operate according to the rules under which they have been programmed; it is still the early stage of them, where decisions on the use of artificial intelligence in legal practice will significantly impact on how these tools are constructed.[19] Thus, it will not be possible to eradicate all human issues in the justice system such as lack of access or inequalities with the use of AI or similar technologies.
AI is a quickly developing technology that already has a significant impact in society and the legal profession is no exception. AI has a great potential to be used for various functions such as enhancing efficiency and accuracy as well as assisting with legal research. Despite law being perceived as an old-fashioned discipline, it was already affected by various technological inventions. What is the future of AI in law? Only time will tell. It may turn out that it will be important for legal professionals to take advantage of the benefits offered by it. Nevertheless, it will be crucial to effectively approach the challenge that it poses and be mindful that it cannot operate the same as a human mind. Therefore, while trying to utilise artificial intelligence as good as it can be, it is important to be mindful of what Mitchell has observed: humans tend to overestimate AI advances and underestimate the complexity of their own intelligence.[20]
[1] Lydia Bennett Moses, ’Artificial Intelligence in the Courts, Legal Academia and Legal Practice’ (2017) 91(7) Australian Law Journal, 561, 561.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Melissa Perry, Benjamin Durkin and Charlotte Breznik, ‚’From Skahespeare to AI: The Law and Evolving Technologies’ (2024) 98(4) Australian Law Journal, 272, 272.
[4] Francois Kunc, ’Current Issues’ (2024) 98(11) Australian Law Journal, 165, 165.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid, 166.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Andrew Blair-Stanek et al, ’AI Gets Its First Law School A+’ (2025) University of Maryland Legal Studies Research paper.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Armin Alimardani, ’Generative artificial intelligence vs. Law students: an empirical study on law criminal law exam performance’ (2024) 17(2) Law, Innovation and Technology, 777.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Melissa Perry, Benjamin Durkin and Charlotte Breznik, ‚’From Skahespeare to AI: The Law and Evolving Technologies’ (2024) 98(4) Australian Law Journal, 272, 272.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ilana Bolingford, ’Is Australia Ready for AI on the Bench?’ (2020) 30(1) Journal of Judicial Administration, 3.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Lydia Bennett Moses, ’Artificial Intelligence in the Courts, Legal Academia and Legal Practice’ (2017) 91(7) Australian Law Journal, 561.
[18] Melissa Perry, Benjamin Durkin and Charlotte Breznik, ‚’From Skahespeare to AI: The Law and Evolving Technologies’ (2024) 98(4) Australian Law Journal, 272.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Tania, Sourdin Replacing, Supporting or Enhancing Judges? Judge AI Considerations for the Future’ (2024) 98(9) Australian Law Journal 698.