How will technology help people to access justice?
Technology seems to continue to speed along, with the law slowly lumbering behind.
New technology could help those who the legal profession has been previously unwilling or unable to assist. Technology also has a role in helping the public understand how the legal world works, as the world of law is seen as cumbersome and complex from the outside. Due to the complexity of legal matters, to practice law in Queensland requires a university degree and mandated additional study is necessary. The complexity of law is where technology stands to make the greatest strides in assisting the public access justice.
In July 2017, the annual Queensland Law Society Access to Justice Survey was launched to gauge the opinions of the state’s legal profession on a range of issues related to access to justice in Queensland. A question on technology and law was responded to by 285 lawyers:
Technology has been identified as having an important role in access to justice. From the list below, please select up to three technological advancements which you believe will most significantly improve access to justice in Queensland.
The results indicate that many lawyers believe that the internet will continue to provide the biggest impact in access to justice (image 1).
Most of the survey responders believe that the proliferation of information on the internet will be of the biggest benefit. The internet will hopefully provide simplicity to complex legal jargon, with one female, a pinnacle practitioner from a community legal centre in Brisbane writing: “Lots of people can’t read/understand legal language.”
These solutions around simplicity are already being seen on the internet, with helpful guides published by organisations such as the Queensland Law Society and others. ‘Legal advice’ or assistance can also be found in places such as the sub-reddit forum, r/Auslegal, which has more than 2000 subscribers and is filled with everyday legal questions and answers. This is not to be confused with charlatans posing as lawyers without regulation.
Despite the advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and other recent innovations, including greater inclusion of data analysis and automation in all areas of legal work, only 21.8% of survey responders believed that AI was going to improve access to justice in Queensland. This may have been because of the wording of the response selections inferred only ‘bot lawyers’ rather than all types of AI.
One area where greater assistance from machine learning could play a role in improving access to justice in Queensland came from a female pinnacle practitioner at a micro firm (2–5 PC) in Brisbane who suggested that: “Courts using technology to guide form filling and document preparation for self-represented litigants” would provide clear benefit.
A breakdown in the post-admission experience (PAE) of responders shows that less experienced, usually younger practitioners believed AI would play a greater role than more experienced practitioners (image 2).
A divide in places of employment also occurs, with six of the 11 (54.5%) corporate/in-house lawyers and five of the 12 (41.7%) lawyers at educational institutions believing that AI will play a greater role. This is in contrast to only seven of the 78 (9.0%) of lawyers currently practising in firms with 20 or less lawyers.
The benefit of video/teleconferencing of hearings was expected to be higher in areas outside of South-East Queensland (SEQ) (table 1), which is where most lawyers and the population of Queensland reside, and some 58.0% of responders who identified as living outside of SEQ highlighted this as an important factor in improving improve access to justice.
The Access to Justice Scorecard is an important annual report produced by the Queensland Law Society with the assistance of its Access to Justice/Pro Bono Law committee, showing how the legal profession in Queensland views access to justice in Queensland. The full Access to Justice Scorecard is now available at the QLS website.
