Overcoming the Resistance to Legal Technology: A Student-Driven Approach

INTRODUCTION

In today's digital age, technology has the potential to transform life as we know it. Many industries have already adopted different technologies to automate and streamline their operations, from cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning to blockchain technology.1 However, the legal profession is still struggling to find a pragmatic approach to balance the use of technology and human expertise. Despite several promising examples, such as Luminance2 and Harvey3, the legal industry has been slower to adopt digital tools and platforms.4

This resistance to change may not be entirely unfounded. The legal profession faces unique challenges that may not be easily addressed by technology alone. A high degree of human interaction and judgment is required, which cannot always be replaced by machines or algorithms.5 As lawyers have a professional responsibility to solve clients’ problems while maintaining confidentiality, some may be concerned that using new technologies could compromise client confidentiality or lead to ethical violations, data breaches, or cyber attacks.6

However, the use of technology can streamline processes, improve client communication, and provide better and more efficient legal services.7 Lawyers should embrace these technologies to improve outcomes, increase client satisfaction, and gain a competitive advantage in the industry.8

OUR MISSION

We believe students can be the primary driver of integrating technology into all professional fields, including law. Our passion for legal technology and innovation has been fostered by working on an international project for the purposes of EUTOPIA, an alliance of 10 European universities. EUTOPIA aims to create a borderless campus, where researchers from different countries can come together to learn, teach, and conduct research without being limited by geographical or legal boundaries and bureaucratic procedures. However, achieving a borderless campus is not without its challenges and obscurities. Different legal systems that apply to researchers — especially with regard to social security, taxation and migration procedures — may deter researchers from engaging in international mobilities and thus impede cross-border circulation of knowledge.

The community of researchers within EUTOPIA faces a problem with numerous and intertwined rules, which result in ambiguities, uncertainties, and difficulties in cross-border mobility. To resolve this problem, we initially conducted a legal analysis that compared different laws. We discovered that many countries follow the same core structure of regulations, which is a consequence of implementing international instruments into national laws. Some rules are strict and must be complied with, like the EU's social security regulations and migration directives. Others, such as the OECD's multilateral instrument for international taxation, are more flexible. Due to these rules, we found that many countries have similar approaches. This gave us an idea on how to use technology to help researchers move between countries more easily.

Our concept aims to automate the legal syllogism of figuring out the applicable rules: what researchers must do before, during and after their mobility. To understand our concept, however, we must first discuss legal syllogism briefly.

SYLLOGISM

Legal professionals use legal syllogism, a reasoning method that involves drawing a conclusion from two propositions: the major premise and the minor premise. The major premise is the general principle of law, while the minor premise is the specific fact relevant to the case. Legal syllogisms help lawyers and judges apply legal principles to specific situations in a rigorous, consistent, and established manner.

For example:

• Major premise: Anyone who takes someone else's movable property shall be punished by imprisonment for up to three years.

• Minor premise: Andrew stole a bystander’s wallet.

• Conclusion: Andrew will be punished by imprisonment for up to three years.

In the above context, a legal syllogism determines the legal consequence given certain facts under applicable rules. However, the underlying logical concept can also be used to determine which rules are yet to be applied.

• Major premise: EU, EEA and Swiss citizens can travel to the UK for holidays or short trips without needing a visa.

• Minor premise: Aiden is a Slovenian national going to the UK for holidays.

• Conclusion: To enter the UK, Aiden does not need a visa.

OUR CONCEPT

Our concept builds on automation of legal syllogism. In pursuit of this, we have separated complex legal rules into individual pieces of information and assigned each one "if conditions" that must be met for that piece of rule to apply. We have converted legal rules into a spreadsheet and gave text a data structure.

Figure 1: Excerpt of the data structure

By doing so, we are now able to see the overall logic of legal requirements and identify all the necessary conditions for a given rule. If these conditions are met, then the rule can be applied. By compiling all rules, users receive comprehensive guidance on what they need to do before, during, and after their mobility. This straightforward concept of “if this then that” greatly simplifies the process of international mobility. Namely, the user simply is requested to insert personal circumstances (”ifs”) and, in turn, receives personalized mobility guidance (”thens”).

Example

RULE: EU, EEA and Swiss citizens can travel to the UK for holidays or short trips without needing a visa.

• IF#1: IN-COMING: UK

• IF#2: OUT-GOING: SLO (EU)

• IF#3: DURATION: HOLIDAYS

• THEN: NO VISA

UX: To enter in the UK, you do not need a visa.

We have also visualized the logic behind the rules into diagrams, providing a simple way to view the abstract flow of  the rules, without diving into the details.

Figure 2: Excerpt from a flowchart

The added value is that complex legal rules are made more understandable, even if researchers are non-lawyers.

What could be the next step?

1. The text could be encoded into software and used as a service by people undertaking international mobility in a convenient and user-friendly way.

2. The scope could be widened to make the tool usable by HR departments, governmental bodies and professional service providers (lawyers, advisors, etc.)

3. Other representations could be drawn (showing, for example, not only flowcharts but also relations amongst different rules). These representations could identify similarities and differences in regulations across jurisdictions, helping policymakers to identify pinpoint and best practices.

4. And many others.

CONCLUSION

Legal acts have far-reaching implications for all parties involved, making trust crucial in the industry. Clients must feel confident in their legal representative's competence, reliability, and trustworthiness. To qualify as a lawyer, therefore individuals must meet demanding requirements, including obtaining a law diploma, acquiring certifications, and passing a bar exam. These credentials prove the capacity and capability of lawyers to make legal decisions. It is assumed that so-educated professionals have enough experience and information to come towards correct conclusions. But could perhaps the same be done by machines?

The law can already be viewed as a type of computation because it involves a rule-based, yes/no, step-wise process. Machines can follow the rules as well. Therefore … We will be back.9

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1 Digital Transformation: Digital Business Transformation defined, URL: https://www.sap.com/insights/what-is-digital-transformation.html.

2 An AI-powered contract review software that can help lawyers review and analyse contracts more efficiently. URL: https://www.luminance.com.

3 Which was recently adopted by e.g. one of the magic circle firms Allen & Overy and one of the big four PwC. URL: https://www.harvey.ai/.

4 Easen, The legal sector faces up to its Digital Future, URL: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/static/digital-data-tech-legal-sector-law-firms-automation-ai/.

5 The unexpected challenges to adopting new technology in your law firm, URL: https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/insights/legal/b/thought-leadership/posts/the-unexpected-challenges-to-adopting-new-technology-in-your-law-.

6 Babazadeh, Natasha, Legal Ethics and Cybersecurity: Managing Client Confidentiality in the Digital Age. Journal of Law & Cyber Warfare (2018), p.1.

7 Streamline communication and improve productivity, URL: https://legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.co.uk/en/trends-insights/articles/avoiding-communication-breakdowns-law-firm-productivity.html.

8 Dorland, Do legal clients care about what technology you use, URL: https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/blog/do-legal-clients-care-about-what-technology-you-use/.

9 Arnold Schwarzenegger.