Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls and head of the civil jurisdiction of England and Wales, emphasized the need for lawyers and judges to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) in their work. He stated that practitioners have no choice but to adopt AI, as it delivers outputs that are more efficient, cost-effective, and quickly deliverable.
According to Sir Geoffrey, large language models (LLMs) provide better access to justice and ensure the law remains relevant to the new generation of litigants and businesses. He noted that the legal profession depends on public trust and confidence, which would be damaged if lawyers and judges appeared protectionist or self-serving in the face of capable AI systems.
Sir Geoffrey argued that justice systems must move with the times to remain relevant. He shared that he and his colleagues have found pleadings and skeleton arguments generated by AI to be of generally higher quality than those produced without AI. While these arguments require careful scrutiny, Sir Geoffrey noted that the same is true for lengthy materials generated by litigants in person in the past.
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The increased use of AI in courts has led to improved access to justice, even if it has forced courts to develop AI mechanisms to process a higher volume of cases. Sir Geoffrey pointed out that arguments against AI use often ignore the fact that LLMs are improving rapidly and can perform tasks such as creating case summaries, translations, and basic legal research.
Sir Geoffrey acknowledged that LLMs are prone to bias, but noted that humans are also biased, both consciously and unconsciously. He emphasized the importance of humans being aware of their own biases and realizing that machines may also be biased. Sir Geoffrey argued that it is illogical to hold AI to a different standard and that the first rule of using AI in the legal process is that none of its work must be used without human checking.
Litigants will come to have confidence in machine-made decisions once they are shown to be reliable.
Sir Geoffrey called for an open debate involving the international legal community to determine what decisions can and should not be assisted or taken by machines rather than human judges.
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The use of AI in courts is not without its challenges, but Sir Geoffrey’s speech highlights the need for lawyers and judges to work with the grain of technological advances to ensure that justice systems remain relevant and effective.
The American Arbitration Association’s introduction of an AI arbitrator for two-party, document-only construction disputes demonstrates the potential for AI to improve access to justice and increase efficiency in the legal system.
AI will play an increasingly important role in shaping the future of justice systems.