The organization urged the government to develop a no-cost AI tool for the public
The Law Society of England and Wales has backed the UK government’s plan to integrate AI throughout the justice system, reported the Law Society Gazette.
As revealed in the “AI action plan for justice,” His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service has trialed the use of AI to transcribe court hearings and oral judgments in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber. The report indicated that AI accelerated the process of manual transcription and enhanced the public’s access to proceedings.
A “generative AI knowledge retrieval assistant” was also piloted that responded to staff queries by examining over 300 unstructured documents. The tool generated a summary that cited source documents. According to the report, the assistant accelerated the case administration process.
The government will also launch a dedicated Justice AI Unit and partner with legal services providers and regulators.
In statements published by the Gazette, Lord William James Timpson, minister for prisons, probations and reducing reoffending, said that the plan intends to “harness the power of AI to transform the public’s experience.” Law Society chief executive Ian Jeffery said that AI had “an important role to play in justice and the legal sector”; nonetheless, while the government’s plan highlighted how AI could bolster the legal system, it also needed to acknowledge the need for risk mitigation.
“The Law Society’s AI strategy has innovation, impact and integrity as key pillars to ensure technology is used in an ethical way to benefit the public and legal professionals alike,” Jeffery said in a statement published by the Gazette.
Jeffery added that the Law Society had urged the government to develop a “a free AI-powered tool to help people understand their legal issues and find the best way to address them.” Such a tool would be similar to the digital National Health Service 111 service and provide guidance on the legal aspects of issues like divorce, employment, housing, and wills.
