Extract from Aleeza Furman’s article “AI Opinion-Drafting Tools Are Emerging, but Will They Gain Traction With Judges?”
In an expanding marketplace of generative artificial intelligence-powered legal drafting platforms, tools are beginning to crop up that offer judges the ability to automate parts of their writing process.
While lawyer-focused legal drafting tools are nothing new, the emergence of judiciary-focused offerings is a more recent development and comes as a growing number of judges explore how to integrate gen AI into their own work.
Still, it’s not full-speed ahead. Even judges who are already embracing gen AI say we’re not quite in the era of bot-written opinions. When and how judges should use gen AI is a question many courts are grappling with.
“People are afraid of having robo-judges, of course,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Allison H. Goddard of the Southern District of California told Legaltech News. “But at the same time, if the budgets are getting cut back, especially on the state side, and judges don’t have time, it takes them so long to get to things. Justice delayed is justice denied. So what are some easy ways we can pick off to see if you can use AI to really streamline decision making?”
