AI Legal Help: Could you be defended by a robot lawyer?

Objection Sustained!

We’ve all been there.

So convinced that the 14th pint would “Make absolutely no difference, of course, you’re not pished…” and then next thing you know you’re on the roof of Tescos and somehow your trousers have got wrapped around your head and there’s a very serious looking policeman yelling through a megaphone at you.

If the thought of describing the scenario to a human being is just too humiliating to bear, or your usual lawyer was the one buying the drinks and is still on the roof, you could try “DoNotPay” the Worlds first Robot lawyer app.

First written in 2018 by Joshua Bowder, DoNotPay is a phone app designed to help you find correct legal jargon and any loopholes that can help with your case. It asks you questions about the potential case and can help draft a legal document. The app also has a deep knowledge of local laws so it can suggest technicalities that would help your defence.

Originally, it was a simple program to help him and his friends deal with parking fines. The App could quickly find any work-arounds or hacks that would get them off – ie, the Parking space being too small. It proved very popular with the broke students it was designed for but was quickly adopted by the general public.

Designed for and by people who cannot afford expensive law representation, Do Not Pay asks only a reasonable $3 per month, which you only pay when you win your case. Based on a chatbot app, it helped draft documents by suggesting the correct language to use. After you have entered a few words describing your issue, the bot will offer various options to choose from. Bowder and his group of talented programmers – and now a brace of lawyers – operate not in Silicon Valley but a small American Condo to keep costs down.

DNP can also help with smaller day-to-day annoyances. Fed up with calling your local Post Office or small claims court only to be told by a recording that you are number 101 in the queue? It helps get appointments by redialling auto-answer machines until a human picks up. If you are a serial Forgetter-of-“free trial” subscription, DNP provides a fake card and email details to use with your service of choice, then cancels it when it reaches the time limit.

Can I see my robot lawyer in Barrister’s Gown?

While it cannot completely replace the need for a courtroom lawyer – yet – it does eliminate a lot of the admin work that would normally take up the expensive bulk of a case.  It is also targeted towards Small claims and trials, so don’t try to use it to get out of a burglary case!

Whether it could get you off a charge of being Drunk and trouserless on top of a popular supermarket, I’m afraid my research was unable to confirm. So while I’m no lawyer, my advice would be: Don’t test this theory.

Or if you do, Don’t mention my name to the cops.

Love, the law-abiding Lucidica Bard.