The Evolution of Justice: Integrating AI into the Legal System
By Aarav Joshi
Law has followed many of the same principles for centuries, while technology has transformed almost every other major industry. Artificial intelligence is now changing how people work, research, and solve problems. But should it also change the justice system?
Picture this: there are some of the world’s most skilled lawyers in a courtroom, armed with years of experience and powerful arguments, but they keep losing their cases. What if artificial intelligence could be a criminal attorney without making the same kinds of human errors? Could AI actually be better at delivering justice than the people who have spent their lives studying the law?
AI in Legal Practice: Opportunities, Risks, and Regulation
Artificial intelligence is becoming part of the criminal justice system. Law enforcement agencies use algorithmic tools to analyze evidence, look for patterns in crime and other data, and draft police reports. Computerized systems can use limited resources more effectively. AI makes it possible to process volumes of data and documentation that would be impossible to manage by hand. To sum it up, AI tools can analyze statutes, case law, and contracts. They can direct users to key issues, relevant precedents, and inconsistencies. Moreover, AI may be effective in legal work that involves processing large amounts of information. It can generate templates, helping lawyers become more organized and efficient.
At the same time, there are many risks tied to AI. Algorithmic systems can be biased, operate in ways that are hard to understand, generate misleading outputs, or shift decision-making power in directions that are difficult to control. Errors may not be obvious or isolated; they may be subtle, especially for users without technical experience. The stakes are incredibly high, as these tools increasingly influence who is stopped, searched, charged, detained, sentenced, supervised, or released. When they fail, the consequences reach beyond efficiency and accuracy to constitutional rights, democratic accountability, and the legitimacy of the justice system itself.
One of AI’s biggest problems is the reliability of its sources. Users do not know where AI gets its information from. When a user prompts AI to “give me reliable sources for this information,” AI could provide outdated websites. AI does not always provide high-quality work simply because a user asks for it; it can also produce answers that sound convincing but are misleading. Lawyers may therefore be uncertain about whether the information is reliable. Despite the disadvantages, I believe that when artificial general intelligence develops, AI should have a role in law. Ultimately, AI should be considered a tool for lawyers rather than a replacement for them.
The courts and law societies are aware of the possible effects of AI on the legal profession, and it is no surprise that law societies are issuing practice notices and guidelines for lawyers. The main point is that lawyers have to take active steps to reduce the risks connected with AI. Prosecutors should look at the court’s guidance and refer to their code of conduct.
Setting the Rules: AI in Court
The courts and law societies are aware of the possible effects of AI on the legal profession, and it is no surprise that law societies are issuing practice notices and guidelines for lawyers. The main point is that lawyers have to take active steps to reduce the risks connected with AI. Prosecutors should look at the court’s guidance and refer to their code of conduct.
In Canada, the Federal Court requires that, in any proceedings, lawyers must state when AI has been used to produce content in documents prepared for litigation. This rule applies in cases where AI performs a function similar to that of a co-author, but not when it merely suggests edits or offers criticism of content that has already been written by a human. The disclosure has to be included in the first paragraph of the filing and should identify the part of the document that was generated by AI.
The Court also cautions that AI may generate unreliable legal information, so both lawyers and individuals representing themselves have to check cases, laws, and all other sources by referring to reliable resources such as official court websites and CanLII. The Court’s overall approach is that AI can be used to help with legal work, but people must still be responsible for checking and approving its output.
Do’s and Don’ts of AI in Law
DOs — How AI should be used
- Analyze large amounts of data to identify patterns, trends, and information that humans might miss.
- Identify potential inequalities to help researchers find unfair patterns or disparities within the justice system.
- Assist with legal research by helping professionals examine large amounts of cases, documents, and information.
- Reduce repetitive administrative work so lawyers and justice professionals can spend more time on important tasks.
- Help connect people with community services by identifying useful support programs and resources.
- Keep humans involved so people review AI’s work and remain responsible for important decisions.
- Use AI to improve the justice system by analyzing policies, discovering problems, and finding areas for improvement.
DON’Ts — How AI should NOT be used
- Make final decisions about someone’s freedom, such as whether someone should be detained or punished.
- Assume AI is automatically unbiased or fair because AI can reproduce or amplify biases in its data.
- Replace human judgment, especially when decisions involve someone’s rights, freedom, or future.
- Use AI simply because it is available without determining whether it actually solves a specific problem.
- Trust AI without checking its results, especially when someone’s rights could be affected.
- Give AI unlimited authority over decisions that could significantly change someone’s life.
- Treat AI recommendations as unquestionable without comparing them with evidence and human judgment.
A.I Powered Law Firm Claims a Win
A law firm providing legal services through AI has claimed its first victory after winning a small debt judgment in the county court. Garfield AI, which markets itself as the world’s first regulator-authorized AI law firm, said it helped a client receive an award of £7,000 earlier this month at Wandsworth County Court.
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The firm was instructed to recover unpaid fees owed to a freelancer who had provided HR-related services to a hospitality business. She used Garfield AI to generate pre-action correspondence and then to prepare and issue court proceedings. The defendant in the case brought a counterclaim, and this was also challenged by the client through Garfield AI. The firm then instructed junior barrister Dominic Li shortly before the trial began.
Following a three-hour hearing in which both sides were represented by counsel, the court found in favour of the claimant and dismissed the counterclaim. The judgment has not been published. Garfield AI said the result showed the benefits of combining AI-enabled litigation support and skilled human courtroom advocacy.
Philip Young, chief executive and co-founder of Garfield AI, said this was a landmark moment not just for the firm but for access to justice.
“For too long, businesses have been forced to write off debts because the cost, time and stress of litigation made pursuing them uneconomic,” he said. “Here, a freelancer who had done the work and not been paid was able to take her case all the way to trial, resist a counterclaim, and win. That is exactly why Garfield exists. AI did not replace the judge, the barrister or the legal system. What it did was make the process more accessible, more efficient and more affordable, so that a meritorious claimant could get to the point where her case could be heard and justice could be done.”
The firm has been operating for just over a year following authorization from the Solicitors Regulation Authority, specializing in helping businesses recover debts of up to £10,000. One of the firm’s selling points when it was created was the initial “polite chaser” letter, for which it charged £2. The firm says more than 600 claims have been started on the platform and that it has so far recovered £500,000 for users.
Notable Technologies
Such as Garfield AI, there are many other platforms for legal services. Harvey is a domain — specific tool tailored for top tier law firms. The company’s products are used by more than 100,000 lawyers across 1,300 organizations, according to a release. Harvey AI was co-founded in 2022 by Winston Weinberg and Gabriel Pereyra. Harvey helps legal professionals with research, document drafting, contract analysis and bulk file review in one place. It uses specialized AI agents to run legal workflows, pull key information from unstructured documents, and produce draft work with citations. Firms can customize Harvey with their own documents and templates. A Workflow Builder lets them create tailored AI agents for specific legal processes However, Harvey doesn’t publish a full list of where its information comes from, so this part is partly inferred. It is built on large language models from outside providers, beginning with OpenAI’s. Finally, it can be connected to firm-authorized legal databases and retrieves real legal content rather than relying on the model’s memory, and it also works with a firm’s own documents. Clients include global law firms and large enterprises like NBCUniversal. The company hit $190 million in annual recurring revenue in January, up from the 100 million dollars figure it announced in August. It also earned a spot on CNBC’s 2025 disruptor 50 list.
Why do Lawyers Still Matter to This Day?
When a lawyer gives advice, that advice comes with accountability. Lawyers must balance advocacy with duties to the court, confidentiality with disclosure obligations, and short-term advantage with long-term consequences. They require experience, judgment, and an appreciation of consequences. Lawyers owe duties to their clients, are regulated by professional bodies, carry insurance, and can be held accountable if their advice proves negligent or incomplete.
AI assumes no responsibility. For the moment, it is not a legal person, so it cannot be sued, disciplined, or required to stand behind its conclusions in the same way as a lawyer. It does not necessarily update its advice when facts change or follow through when a decision produces unintended consequences. For clients, that distinction matters. Legal advice is not just about information; it is about having someone who is responsible for helping them navigate uncertainty and who remains engaged as circumstances evolve. Ultimately, lawyers carry more accountability than AI and bring greater professional experience and judgment to legal cases.
Innovation
As artificial intelligence continues to advance, the legal profession is likely to experience significant changes. A 2018 study compared 20 experienced U.S. lawyers with an AI system when reviewing nondisclosure agreements (NDAs). The AI achieved 94% accuracy in just 26 seconds, compared with the lawyers’ average accuracy of 85% over 92 minutes. This demonstrates how AI can outperform humans in certain specific legal tasks, particularly those involving repetitive document review. However, it does not mean AI is better than lawyers in every aspect of the legal profession.
In the future, legal AI could become more advanced at analyzing case law, identifying relevant precedents, reviewing contracts, and detecting inconsistencies in legal documents. The adoption of AI may also help law firms reduce costs and provide services more efficiently. One important development is narrow AI, which is designed to perform specific tasks within a defined scope. Rather than replacing lawyers entirely, specialized AI systems could handle repetitive work while lawyers focus on complex legal arguments, negotiations, and courtroom advocacy.
Nevertheless, future innovations must prioritize accuracy, fairness, and reliable sources. AI will need to improve its ability to verify information and avoid misleading recommendations. Ultimately, the future of law may depend on how effectively humans and AI work together.
Reflection
Artificial intelligence should play a role in the legal system, but it should support lawyers rather than replace them. AI can improve efficiency through evidence analysis, pattern recognition, legal research, and assistance with preparing legal documents. However, these benefits come with risks, including discrimination, misleading advice, and decisions that lack clear explanations. Such risks are particularly concerning in criminal trials, where AI-related errors could infringe upon the rights of the accused and affect sentencing outcomes. Although AI may improve access to legal services by reducing costs and making legal assistance more accessible, it should never replace qualified legal professionals. Human judgment, accountability, and ethical reasoning remain essential qualities that AI cannot fully replicate. To conclude, the future of AI in law depends on establishing clear policies that allow technology to improve the justice system while ensuring that human rights, fairness, and accountability remain protected.
About the Author
Hi, my name is Aarav! I am a high school student of Turner Fenton Secondary School currently in the IB program. student passionate about Law and Artificial Intelligence. I am Learning how technology can make the legal system simpler and it is one of my favourite things to research! You can reach me through my LinkedIn (Aarav Joshi).
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