New insights show that couples in the UK are using AI to create crucial legal documents such as prenuptial agreements and divorce settlements to remove legal fees and save money.
Teresa Davidson, Head of Family Law at Winston Solicitors warns that this comes with huge risks, including major legal inaccuracies that could result in further legal costs and irreversible financial damage.
Couples taking to using AI to create legal documents could face an additional cost of potentially tens of thousands in court applications to fix the issues that come with automated documents or indeed real financial loss either through DIY couples doing a bad deal for themselves or not documenting correctly what they have agreed, and ensuring this comes with a legal safeguards a good lawyer will ensure are included.
While AI can sometimes offer speed and efficiency, legal experts are sounding the alarm on the potential risks of people turning to automated systems for such important and life-changing documents. Teresa Davidsonsaid:
“There is a lot of publicity around how AI can transform how legal documents are created, reducing the time and cost associated with traditional legal work.
But there are significant risks when it comes to accuracy, compliance, and ethical standards, especially in high-stake legal matters.”
Key risks highlighted by Teresa Davidson include:
- Incomplete Legal Context
AI may struggle to grasp the broader legal implications of a document, leading to omissions that could weaken the legal standing of the document.
- Jurisdictional Issues
Laws vary widely by jurisdiction, and without specific input from a qualified legal professional, AI may fail to tailor documents to the correct legal framework.
- Lack of Personalisation and Advice
Every legal situation is unique. AI tools might not fully account for the specific needs, priorities, or potential risks of individual clients. Crucially, AI is not “giving advice”, merely pulling together information from a range of sources, not all of which may be accurate.
- Ethical Challenges
Reliance on AI could lead to ethical dilemmas, such as unintentional and random inclusions in the creation of documents that do not meet important legal protections or standards.
- Liability Questions
If an AI-generated document results in a legal error, it is not clear if there would be any liability on a third party – so the user is likely to bear the impact without recourse, unless this can somehow be rectified through the court.
Teresa said that AI systems are “prone to bias and error” which can have significant implications in family law proceedings. She continued:
“They can draw on accurate and also wholly inaccurate information and often result in jumbled elements, some of which might work, but many don’t make sense and don’t have any relation to what the court in this jurisdiction would expect a legal document to obtain.
Legal documents need to be drafted carefully with a full appreciation of a client’s individual circumstances and objectives in mind.
AI lacks the expertise of a solicitor who knows critical case details and has the requisite experience and legal knowledge to draft the documents appropriately. I also cannot advise individuals of the specific implications of each element of any agreement and the extent to which it should be drafted specifically with their interests in mind. ”
