FUTURE LAWYER PROJECT 1085385

A Lawyer's toolkit to becoming the artificially enhanced lawyer

About the Project

This project canvasses a variety of intersecting issues arising from the emergence of artificial intelligence ('AI') on the legal profession.

As one of the biggest disruptors to the legal profession, this toolkit aims to equip lawyers, both old and new, to be better prepared for these dramatic changes, and ultimately, to become the AI-enhanced lawyer.

DEFINITION

AI is technology that enables computer systems to be able to simulate human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, translation between languages, and decision-making.

AI is not intelligent in the same way humans are (i.e. by thinking or reasoning through decisions), but is instead following a set of pre-programmed computational steps or inferring a probable outcome from analysing vast amounts of data.

AI can be classified as either "general" or "narrow". Narrow AI systems may surpass human performance in specific tasks buy are unable to generalise this capability to other tasks which a human could. This project largely concerns narrow AI, as most current legal applications of AI fall into this category. General AI remains a somewhat theoretical concept.

Recently, when people talk about AI, they are usually referring to machine learning. Machine learning is the most disruptive type of AI in the legal context, for it can adapt itself to encounter new data and continually enhance its own performance (i.e. learn independently).

Artificial Intelligence

WHAT IS IT?

ARTICLES

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AI and Lawyer Ethics

This article examines the ethical boundaries of employing AI in the legal context, as well as exploring a framework for which lawyers can act ethically with respect to AI technologies

AI and Diversity

This article canvasses both the positive and negative aspects of using AI in a legal context

AI and Upskilling

This article explores which skills, both existing and new, should be developed now to make the most of integration of AI into legal practice

AI and the Law in Practice

This article examines the differing ways that lawyers' work can be enhanced through AI, as well as how legal practice will evolve to reflect a technologically innovative society

I would like to acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, and pay my respect to elders past and present. I would also like to acknowledge the unique position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Australia's culture and history; including as the first owners of the land and waters. As lawyers, it is imperative that we proactively recognise and respond to the plurality of our legal landscape, and uphold the tradition, customs, and memories of First Nations law/lore in our practice.