Doogue O’Brien George criminal defence lawyers will officially launch Robot
Lawyers next week. The virtual assistant will “help unrepresented people
tell their story”.
The model works by asking users a set number of questions regarding their
personal circumstances before emailing the user a document, based on those
questions and answers, the user can present in court.
According to the firm’s Robot Lawyers website, the questions asked are
based on the type of personal information that court is interested in when
considering penalties. The robot will email users a free character reference
guidelines document for any character reference statements the user may bring
to their appearance in court.
The areas Robot Lawyers can assist users with include driving
penalties, assault, drug and theft charges, and drink/drug driving fines.
Robot Lawyers cannot assist a user if they are pleading not guilty or are
contesting or disrupting the facts in the criminal case.
Doogue O’Brien George partner Bill Doogue (pictured) said the decision to
launch Robot Lawyers came after he attended an industry conference
that discussed the future of law.
“The genesis of the robot lawyer concept was a legal practice management
conference that Andrew George and I attended in Melbourne. The conference was
run by ALPMA and was excellent on a number of levels. They had a lot of very
interesting speakers about the future of law and legal practices,” Mr Doogue
said.
“What that prompted for Andrew and I was a discussion about how technology
could help a lot of people appearing before the courts.
“As criminal defence lawyers, we see a large number of people appearing in
court unrepresented. The magistrate is generally trying their best to get
information from the person, but they are often under pressure themselves from
the large number of cases before them and the person may have difficulties
explaining their position.”
Mr Doogue said Robot Lawyers makes it easier for the client who is trying
to present the most important information to the court.
“You will often find people talking about their case afterwards saying, ‘I
wish I told the magistrate about my problem’ or something to that effect.
Often, people are overwhelmed by speaking in public and so they are not able to
articulate their position. They may be nervous, anxious and perhaps intimidated
by the court setting and the public nature of the process. These are all barriers
to getting information across to the court,” he said.
“It struck us that the way we could help the most people to access justice
was to provide a service like Robot Lawyers that asked the basic questions a
lawyer would, then return that information in a way that is digestible for a
magistrate.”
Mr Doogue said Robot Lawyers is not an attempt to completely replace
lawyers with technology. However, it is hoped that vulnerable clients are
served accordingly.
“If a person can be represented by legal aid or can afford a lawyer, then
we would strongly recommend that they do. But for the person who cannot afford
a lawyer, then helping them to present their personal information to the court
in a simple manner through Robot Lawyers seemed a good idea,” he said.
“…With at least 300,000 criminal cases of all sorts being initiated each
year in Australia, it means there are a large of people who need some help.
“Robot Lawyers asks the type of questions relevant to penalty that every
lawyer will ask of their client. The aim of the Robot Lawyers is to make sure
that none of this foundation material is missed. If the magistrate has most of
the key information at hand, it will make their job easier and hopefully
deliver a better outcome for the unrepresented person.”
Mr Doogue also addressed concerns lawyers may have about a model like Robot
Lawyers.
“We have spoken to a number of lawyers about this project. All of them, so
far, have seen the benefit for the unrepresented person but some have wondered
whether we will lose clients in the process,” he said.
“Possibly. But it is our view that the improvement in access to justice is
the responsibility of all lawyers. We believe that lawyers do add real value in
the criminal justice process and that clients will continue to access us when
and as necessary.”
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