Robots LISA and Billy Provide Affordable Legal Assistance in the U.K.

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Summary: Two artificial intelligence programs in the United Kingdom now provide affordable legal services to the masses. 

LISA and Billy have hooked up, and their union is going to be big! But LISA and Billy aren’t regular sweethearts. They’re robots, and their linking has a possible profound impact on the legal community in the United Kingdom, according to Forbes. 

  

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LISA and Billy are both artificial intelligence solutions that exist in the legal delivery eco-system. According to Forbes, their partnership may lead to millions of unrepresented citizens gaining access to once expensive legal costs.

The pairing of LISA and Billy will first focus on the retail market segment, and Forbes said, “These outcomes are critically important not only to those in dire need of legal services but also to society at large.” The publication added that LISA and Billy will also accelerate the collaboration between machines and humans.

“At a time when the rule of law is under siege across the globe, access to legal redress—machine/human/or hybrid—is critical. LISA and Billy were designed to provide the public with access to legal services,” Forbes said. “LISA is unique in the legal world because she functions as a collaborative tool designed to enable two lay parties to work together to create legally binding documents while providing legal and commercial insight during the process. This promotes a quick, cost-effective middle ground and saves both sides the time and expense of engaging individual human counsel for routine matters. LISA is distinctive for her ability to function neutrally and bilaterally—in contrast to chatbots that function unilaterally. LISA allows lay counterparties to create binding legal agreements iteratively, providing each side legal guidance and advice that is transparent to the other. When additional assistance is required, LISA and Billy make it easy for consumers to connect to solicitors and/or barristers. This is another reason why the LISA/Billy hook-up is noteworthy.”

LISA and Billy are digital assistants. LISA provides self-help assistance with legal matters, and Billy is a chatbot that can answer legal questions. Through Billy, users can find lawyers that meet their needs and LISA can help United Kingdom citizens perform tasks that do not require licensed attorneys.

Stateside, some in the legal industry have expressed concern that robots may take jobs, but so far, that seems to be years away. Currently, artificial intelligence is helping law firms with menial tasks such as research, but they cannot completely take the place of a person with analytical, business, and people skills. However, as LISA and Billy have shown in the UK, technology is only getting better and better; and law students and legal professionals should be prepared to work alongside machines in the future.

Many lawyers—especially those that did not grow up with computers—have a curious ambivalence about technology. Most readily adopt it for personal use but resist it professionally. Change is something that makes most people uncomfortable, and the legal profession, until the last decade, had experienced little change for generations,” Forbes stated. “Technology has affected legal delivery in several material ways including: how lawyers work; by whom they are employed; provider market share; new delivery models; agile workplaces; the creation of a legal supply chain; an emerging distinction between legal ‘practice’ and ‘the delivery of legal services’ (the business of law and legal operations); and an evolving division of labor among lawyers, other professionals, paraprofessionals, and machines.”

• New Study Concludes Robots Will Not Take Human Jobs Anytime Soon
• Presence of Robots in Legal Industry Growing 

What do you think of artificial intelligence in the legal world? Let us know in the comments below.