20 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 8 w w w . c a n a d i a n l a w y e r m a g . c o m
T
he size of the chatbot market is growing exponentially. Gartner
forecasts that, by 2020, more than 25 per cent of customer service
operations will be handled without a human. There continues
to be fewer human interactions in our daily life, and we will be
interacting more and more with automated and life-like computer
programs. Some of us already engage with several bots daily — from Siri to
Google Home to Alexa — or when we call into customer service lines. These
bots mimic human conversation interaction and, from the back end, operate
almost like a choose-your-own-adventure book (maybe I'm dating myself here).
Online chatbots are not just client-facing but can be used to automate cus-
tomer intake online and other business tasks. In the legal space, chatbots can be
used to collect information to automate legal document creation and enhance
client experiences. For lawyers, chatbots could be leveraged while delivering
these services at a lower cost, for around-the-clock and just-in-time services.
What is a chatbot?
A chatbot is a computer program that is pre-programmed with certain rules
(rules based on artificial intelligence) or trained to conduct a defined conversa-
L E G A L I N N O VA T I O N N O W
LEVERAGING
CHATBOTS
By Monica Goyal
tion (machine-learning artificial intelligence).
The chatbot could be voice activated, like
Alexa or Siri, or it could be text based like
a weather bot. A Juniper Research report
estimates that chatbot adoption in banking,
retail and health care will be responsible for
cost savings of more than $11 billion annu-
ally by 2023, up from $8 billion in 2017. In
fact, the PwC report, "Bot.Me: A revolution-
ary partnership, How AI is pushing man and
machine closer," found that 31 per cent of
business executives believe that more than any
other AI-powered solution, virtual personal
assistants will have the largest impact on their
business.
Law and chatbots
To consider how chatbots could be used in
law, I am going to take you back to last fall.
On Sept. 7, 2017, Equifax reported that 143
million U.S. customers may have been vic-
tims of a cyberattack. This data breach saw
the theft of millions of names, birthdates,
social security numbers and addresses — all
the information a cybercriminal would need
to commit identity theft. In the aftermath of
this breach, many people were left wondering
about their legal rights. Enter DoNotPay.
DoNotPay is a legal technology that uses
an artificial intelligence software (chatbots)
to assist consumers with different (primar-
ily small-dollar-amount) legal issues, such
as fighting parking tickets or flight refunds.
The software proceeds to have a conversation
with the user to determine the best course of
action for each specific situation.
In the days following the Equifax breach
announcement, DoNotPay's founder, Joshua
Browder, announced a version of the DoNot-
Pay app that would provide people affected
by the data breach with legal information and
completed PDF forms that could be used to
file a case in court. The software provided a
way for millions of Americans to understand
their legal rights and prepare legal court
documents for free. However, critics of the
software said that it didn't adequately advise
or counsel people on how to quantify dam-
ages suffered, if suffered at all, and did not
advise them that they would not be able to
participate in a future class action lawsuit.
Criticism aside, DoNotPay has garnered
quite a bit of attention in the legal technology
space because of its use of AI and its focus
on access to justice. Imagine all the small-
dollar-amount legal issues that your family
Are you ready for the lawyer
chatbot army?
@MonicaNGoyal
O P I N I O N
