• AI to play a big role in organisation of courts, categorisation, process automation and extraction of info.
• AI can greatly reduce the burden on lawyers and judges and reduce corruption to a large extent.

Bengaluru: Technology adoption in India’s legal system and judiciary is all set to increase post-Covid-19 and Artificial  Intelligence as a paradigm will have a new manifestation, experts said during a webinar.

With courts in India already resorting to conducting deliberations online, the pandemic and the lockdown has unexpectedly fast-tracked the role of technology, in an otherwise traditional judicial functioning in India. 

Justice L. Narasimha Reddy, Chairman, Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) and the Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad, said that although the role of technology is bound to increase, there is a need to be cautious while embracing technology.

“Technology can add value to the legal system but should never replace a judge. Only a human being can decide for fellow beings,” said Justice Reddy, also the former Chief Justice of Patna High Court.

“The practice of law is an intellectual pursuit. Certain decisions are taken, based on the circumstances,” he said in a webinar held on Artificial Intelligence in Law, organised by the Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI).

Giving an example that in interpreting the provisions of the constitution of India, Justice Reddy said: “It is always dynamic. You cannot expect the principles or the phenomenon to remain constant. The constitution had to be amended nearly 100 times to meet the needs of society and humans. It is similar to other laws. That would be possible with the human brain.

“You cannot depend on a computer to do this,” he said, adding that except for statistical information, AI cannot be used for decision making in the context of policy matters. 

AI should be used responsibly

“In order for AI technologies to be truly transformative in a positive way, we need a set of ethical norms, standards and practical methodologies to ensure that we use AI responsibly and to the benefit of humanity,”  said Justice Reddy. 

Delivering the main presentation, Advocate Sai Sushanth, CEO, Sushanth IT Law Associates, said the benefits of Artificial Intelligence to the legal system will be as impactful as it would be on various other domains. 

“Technology has helped in the delivery of justice in times of Covid-19 lockdown. This is a small momentum that has already started. It is a stepping stone in introducing technology into the court of law,”  said Sushanth. 

“We have already started using AI with or without our knowledge. it can be used in commercial claims, mechanical processes and legal nuances. AI is going to play a big role in organisation of courts, categorisation of matters, process automation and extraction of info. It can greatly reduce the burden on lawyers and judges and reduce corruption to a large extent,” he said. 

Giving examples of tools such as Compas – a risk assessment tool,  Casemine, and CaseIQ, LegalMation, and even IBM i2 Enterprise Insight Analysis, he said, Ai, thanks to the latest advancement in Natural Language Processing (NLP)  and predictive analysis, has been assisting lawyers and judges in the United States, facilitating in generating suggestive arguments, complete details of case laws, document review and case management, etc.

Use cases

In the United States, the use of AI is still limited to various tools by human judges and law enforcement agencies. Compas, for example, is used to study the historical data of those accused/defendants to help the judge determine if he/she should be kept in jail or be allowed out while awaiting trial.

IBM’s CaseIQ, the legal research AI, for example, has completely mapped the Indian law and uses its capabilities to enhance traditional legal research or move beyond mere keywords and retrieve relevant results using entire passages and briefs.

Giving examples of countries where AI is already adjudicating the cases, he said Estonia has an AI judge, who looks into all small matters less than 7000 Euros.

In China for example, in December 2019, they came up with a smart AI court to decide on matters relating to e-commerce, financial disputes, online conduct, loans, product liability, civil rights, property etc.

“The time taken to issue judgments reduced by 70 per cent, and an average disposal hearing time was 37 minutes.  About 80 per cent of the cases were filed by individuals, while  20 per cent by corporates. About  90 per cent of the filings went without appeal. The verdict was delivered through a Chat app,” said Sushanth. 

The AI, according to him, will help in reducing pendency. “The whole world is embracing AI and becoming technology savvy and the Indian legal system should come forward in adopting the technology,”  said Sushanth.

The legal field, as well as the legal professionals, he said, should come forward and welcome the advent of technology in the legal arena and assist to develop itself for the betterment and welfare of society.