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 含羞草研究社� an AI system designed to sort Canadian court decisions listed online. 

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

含羞草研究社淭here are millions of court decisions out there; I think we found 2.5 million of them across Canada," said Vigier. "They含羞草研究社檙e 100 pages each on average, and it takes paralegals and lawyers hours to find one case."

In contrast, Caseway, which Clearway含羞草研究社檚 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 含羞草研究社� most of which are from the Canadian Legal Information Institute 含羞草研究社� in search of wording that matches the user's request. It then lists matches. 

含羞草研究社淥ur AI can含羞草研究社檛 consider what some guy wrote on Reddit, what someone wrote on their Facebook page 含羞草研究社� it doesn含羞草研究社檛 know anything about that,含羞草研究社� said Vigier. 含羞草研究社淚f a judge didn含羞草研究社檛 write about it, we don含羞草研究社檛 know about it.含羞草研究社�   

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

含羞草研究社淐hatGPT is good if you want a really high-level understanding of something," said Vigier. "It含羞草研究社檚 not something you can ever reference in a court document. You含羞草研究社檙e never going to reference a blog, you含羞草研究社檙e never going to reference a social media post 含羞草研究社� you have to reference court decisions."  

Caseway also lists its sources, whereas ChatGPT doesn含羞草研究社檛. 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.

含羞草研究社�70 per cent of people going through the justice system are self-represented,含羞草研究社� he said. 含羞草研究社淭his is something they can actually ask it 含羞草研究社� what kind of arguments should I be making, what kind of arguments have been successful, give me some cases.含羞草研究社�   

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

含羞草研究社淭he thing that we don含羞草研究社檛 want is some lawyer, paralegal or self-represented person to just copy and paste something into a court document and then file it,含羞草研究社� he said. 含羞草研究社淵ou含羞草研究社檙e going to have to have some knowledge at least that you含羞草研究社檙e supposed to be presenting case law and statutes as your legal basis, otherwise you含羞草研究社檙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 you含羞草研究社檙e paying a lawyer $300 an hour and it takes them two hours to find a case, that含羞草研究社檚 [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 I含羞草研究社檓 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. "They含羞草研究社檙e really complicated and the court clerks don含羞草研究社檛 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.  

含羞草研究社淚 call lawyers herd animals,含羞草研究社� he joked. 含羞草研究社淓ither everything is bad if it含羞草研究社檚 outside of what含羞草研究社檚 being accepted or it含羞草研究社檚 really good if it is being accepted. Our job is to get ... credible lawyers using the platform.含羞草研究社�