SLS Legal Design Lab: “AI and Access to Justice Initiative” (extensive and very helpful collection of materials on workshops and courses (including Margaret Hagan’s AI for Legal Help Policy Lab), user research, system evaluation, network coordination & innovative R&D in the use of AI for A2J
Margaret Hagan: “Opportunities & Risks for AI, Legal Help, and Access to Justice. Legal Design and Innovation” June 2023 (from the intro: “Could AI tools like ChatGPT, Bing Chat, and Google Bard help get more people crucial information about their rights & the law? Could AI tools help people efficiently and affordably defend themselves against eviction or debt collection lawsuits? Could it help them fill in paperwork, create strong pleadings, prepare for court hearings, or negotiate good resolutions? This report presents the initial proposals of the tasks, scenarios & use cases where AI could be helpful. It also covers risks, harms, and worries . . . and lays out some key infrastructure proposals.”)
Andrew Holt: “Legal AI-d to Your Service: Making Access to Justice a Reality” Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law (2023)ABA: “2024 AI and Legal Education Survey Results.” From the overview: “The AI and Legal Education Survey, is a compilation of insights gathered from law school administrators and faculty regarding the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into legal education. The survey was completed by 29 law school deans or faculty members between late December 2023 and mid-February 2024.” The survey reports that “a growing number of law schools emphasize hands-on learning with AI, such as in simulation-based classes, new types of clinics (e.g., Vanderbilt AI Law Lab, Suffolk Law’s Legal Innovation and Technology Lab), and workshops. Law schools with labs teach students how to use AI to better serve the public (e.g., by assisting court systems and legal aid organizations).”
Risks and Drawbacks of AI for Access to Justice
Drew Simshaw: “Access to A.I. Justice: Avoiding an Inequitable Two-Tiered System of Legal Services” Yale Journal of Law & Technology, 24, 150–226 (2022). (from the abstract: “AI has been heralded for its potential to help close the access to justice gap. It can increase efficiencies, democratize access to legal information, and help consumers solve their own legal problems or connect them with licensed professionals who can. But some fear that increased reliance on AI will lead to one or more two-tiered systems: the poor might be stuck with inferior AI-driven assistance; only expensive law firms might be able to effectively harness legal AI; or, AI’s impact might not disrupt the status quo where only some can afford any type of legal assistance. The realization of any of these two-tiered systems would risk widening the justice gap.”)
Ashwin Telang: “The Promise and Peril of AI Legal Services to Equalize Justice” Harvard Journal of Law & Technology (Auust 14, 2023) (from the abstract: “this article assesses new developments in AI legal services, . . . explores the potential of artificial intelligence to either democratize access to legal services or how without proper treatment, it may only reinforce existing inequalities, . . . and outlines specific reforms to address AI’s perils.”)
Emily S. Taylor Poppe: “The Future Is ̶B̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ Complicated: AI, Apps & Access to Justice” Oklahoma Law Review, 72(1) (2019) (examining complications in using legal AI in estate planning)
