📰 TL;DR

Join us today for an analysis of how law and generative AI intersect. Will this tech advancement provide an equal platform for everyone, or will it strengthen the position of major corporations?

[ 4 min read ]

Deep Dive 🤿

• Can AI Help Me Win Personal Legal Cases?

• But, how does it work and how is it using Generative AI?

• Can I use an AI Lawyer in court?

• Allen & Overy

• DLA Piper

*and 5 of the best free ChatGPT prompts this week

Can AI Help Me Win Personal Legal Cases?

Do Not Pay

Most law cases are text-based, which is why Generative AI is perfectly placed to disrupt the industry. Let’s take a deep dive.

DoNotPay is a legal services tool that was created by Joshua Browder, a British-American computer scientist who graduated from Stanford University, back in 2015.

In brief, Joshua calls DoNotPay “Automated Consumer Rights” - Essentially, the AI chatbot was designed to help people with minor legal issues such as traffic tickets, late fees, and fines. Recently, however, the company has expanded its reach and can now be used for a range of legal concerns, that are arguably more important, such as filing restraining orders to annulling marriages and fighting workplace discrimination, among others.

The company's goal is to empower its clients to stand up to big corporations, cut through bureaucratic red tape, and even sue anyone with just a few clicks.

And it seems to be working - since its launch, the DoNotPay AI has been used in a quarter of a million cases, winning 160,000 of them with an impressive success rate of 64%.

But, how does it work and how is it using Generative AI?

DoNotPay uses natural language processing to assist its clients in navigating the legal system. The company's AI chatbot provides prompts and advice via a client's mobile phone or computer on what to say and do to contest legal procedures. Say you accidentally overstay your parking and you’re given a parking ticket. Do you contest the ticket?

We all know it can be a lengthy and difficult procedure trying to prove whether you were allowed to park in a particular spot at a particular time. That’s why the move to using an end-to-end system like DoNotPay is in reality a no-brainer. It provides the customer with the optimum legal advice, having used generative AI to review all of the legal documents regarding that particular case.

It then helps you write your personalised argument, written in the correct legal format guaranteed to win (or ostensibly win 64% of the time).

Ultimately, this can save the client threefold - the time, money and effort that they would have had to expend researching whether they could get out of the parking ticket. So, arguably - worth a try right?

In recent months, DoNotPay has evolved from offering assistance solely with individual legal disputes, such as contesting a parking ticket, to concentrating on delivering a more comprehensive solution that enables the DoNotPay bot to engage in a text-based exchange with a lawyer, back and forth.

Can I use an AI Lawyer in court?

One of the unique features of DoNotPay's AI is that it is trained to stick to facts rather than manipulate information to win a case. In the case of traffic tickets mentioned above, the AI goes so far as even providing advice directly in court on what to say and how to respond to assigned judges via headphones. Understandably, this is through a court-loophole and isn’t permitted in most courts within the UK or US, but it just goes to show where things are heading.

Ultimately, It’s still early doors, but considering the above, you can imagine how the landscape is likely to change within the next few years. Cases could be won by AI lawyers that are far more reasonably priced than current lawyers on offer - both democratising access to the average joe and also allowing them to level the playing field and step up to big corporates.

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So what cases can DoNotPay currently help with?

1. Annul My Marriage

2. Appeal Parking Tickets in Any City

3. Appeal Speeding Tickets

4. Appeal Toll Booth Tickets

5. Birth Certificates

6. Breach of Contract

7. Break My Lease

8. Clean Credit Report

9. College Fee Waivers

10. Compensation for Victims of Crime

11. Dispute Traffic Tickets

12. Divorce Certificates

13. Fight and Waive Fees

14. Identity Theft

15. Increase Credit Limit

16. Insurance Claims

17. Landlord Protection

Can find DNP’s website here if you want to DYOR.

Generative AI won’t just help us. It’s likely to help big law firms as well.

It's not just smaller start-ups like DoNotPay that are exploring the possibilities of generative AI in the legal industry. Some of the market leaders (even firms from the prestigious Magic Circle) are getting in on the action too.

Allen & Overy

London-based law firm Allen & Overy is shaking up the legal industry by partnering with OpenAI's Harvey, a powerful generative AI tool.

One in four of Allen & Overy's lawyers are now using Harvey, with 80% of them using it at least once a month.

This cutting-edge tool is perfect for the legal industry, which relies on standardised documents and precedents.

However, the system isn’t perfect, users still need to validate everything that comes out of the system as it has a tendency to "hallucinate", which has been a huge difficulty, especially considering that it’s paramount that legal facts are correct.

DLA Piper

DLA Piper, one of the world's largest law firms, is also getting serious about Generative AI. In a strategic move, the company recruited 10 data scientists from a smaller rival firm to provide guidance to clients on how to leverage AI.

As regulators around the world are developing policies to police the rapidly expanding technology, DLA Piper is positioning itself as an AI leader. Bennett Borden, a former CIA official who used data analytics and machine learning to predict human behaviour, will lead the new team.

DLA Piper also plans to use generative AI to help its own lawyers with mundane research and writing assignments in a similar use-case as ‘Harvey’. Additionally, the company will develop AI tools that clients can use to accomplish their own legal tasks.

In summary, we can expect some major shake-ups in the jurisprudence field in the next ten years. From regular people to big law firms, everyone will feel the impact. While we can't say for sure what the future holds, one thing is certain: Generative AI is going to play a big role.

Editors Product Pick 📺

AI LAWYER

Aptly named “AI Lawyer” can check your legal documents, give you advice on all those confusing legal terms, and even generate personalised legal documents for you in no time.

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