A Saanich-born UVic-alumnus has helped create an AI software that could revolutionize legal research.

Alistair Vigier, a UK-trained lawyer who is also the CEO of counsel-rating software Clearway Law, came up with the idea for Caseway sa国际传媒� an AI system designed to sort Canadian court decisions listed online. 

The goal: to help make legal information easier to find.

sa国际传媒淭here are millions of court decisions out there; I think we found 2.5 million of them across Canada," said Vigier. "Theysa国际传媒檙e 100 pages each on average, and it takes paralegals and lawyers hours to find one case."

In contrast, Caseway, which Clearwaysa国际传媒檚 chief technology officer Andrew Hodge coded, can find relevant court decisions in just three seconds.  

The way it works is simple. Users input questions such as, "Find me three cases involving medical malpractice in Victoria," and the software scans its database of court documents sa国际传媒� most of which are from the Canadian Legal Information Institute sa国际传媒� in search of wording that matches the user's request. It then lists matches. 

sa国际传媒淥ur AI cansa国际传媒檛 consider what some guy wrote on Reddit, what someone wrote on their Facebook page sa国际传媒� it doesnsa国际传媒檛 know anything about that,sa国际传媒� said Vigier. sa国际传媒淚f a judge didnsa国际传媒檛 write about it, we donsa国际传媒檛 know about it.sa国际传媒�   

That makes it more reliable than other chatbots, according to the software's founder.

sa国际传媒淐hatGPT is good if you want a really high-level understanding of something," said Vigier. "Itsa国际传媒檚 not something you can ever reference in a court document. Yousa国际传媒檙e never going to reference a blog, yousa国际传媒檙e never going to reference a social media post sa国际传媒� you have to reference court decisions."  

Caseway also lists its sources, whereas ChatGPT doesnsa国际传媒檛. That makes it even more trustworthy because users can fact-check results the software has produced, Vigier says. 

Because the software is easy to use, Vigier said it could help self-representing people in addition to paralegals and lawyers.

sa国际传媒�70 per cent of people going through the justice system are self-represented,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淭his is something they can actually ask it sa国际传媒� what kind of arguments should I be making, what kind of arguments have been successful, give me some cases.sa国际传媒�   

The founder added, however, that Caseway will benefit users only with a healthy understanding of the legal system and legal procedures.   

sa国际传媒淭he thing that we donsa国际传媒檛 want is some lawyer, paralegal or self-represented person to just copy and paste something into a court document and then file it,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淵ousa国际传媒檙e going to have to have some knowledge at least that yousa国际传媒檙e supposed to be presenting case law and statutes as your legal basis, otherwise yousa国际传媒檙e doomed regardless of what you do." 

Caseway could also benefit people who find the cost of lawyers prohibitive.

"The problem for the public is that, if yousa国际传媒檙e paying a lawyer $300 an hour and it takes them two hours to find a case, thatsa国际传媒檚 [already] $600," said Vigier.

If lawyers can reduce the time they spend finding court decisions, they could also reduce their costs, making council more affordable for the average person, Vigier says.

Despite all the software has to offer, Caseway still dons a beta label and can produce nonsensical answers. The company is working day-to-day to train it to reduce the chances of errors. Coders are also working to fix bugs, strengthen the software against cyber-attacks and improve speed.

In addition to these tweaks, Vigier wants to expand the database to include American court decisions to attract new customers.  

"The other thing Isa国际传媒檓 really excited about, and I guess this is more important for self-represented people, is there are many forms when you go through divorce court, bankruptcy court, whatever," said Vigier. "Theysa国际传媒檙e really complicated and the court clerks donsa国际传媒檛 accept them unless they're perfect, so what I would like to do is get some samples of perfect court documents and then have the AI fill them out in a draft form for people."  

Caseway launched on Sept. 3. In the past seven days, 175 people have signed up for a free seven-day trial, said Vigier, who hopes even more lawyers will sign up.  

sa国际传媒淚 call lawyers herd animals,sa国际传媒� he joked. sa国际传媒淓ither everything is bad if itsa国际传媒檚 outside of whatsa国际传媒檚 being accepted or itsa国际传媒檚 really good if it is being accepted. Our job is to get ... credible lawyers using the platform.sa国际传媒�