Magic Circle and City firms are to work with academics on a major research project into potential uses of artificial intelligence (AI) in legal services.
The research, led by Oxford University, will be tested by a range of partners including Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy, South Square Chambers, The Law Society, lawtech start-up LexSnap and the Legal Education Foundation charity.
The project, ‘Unlocking the Potential of AI for English Law’, has been awarded a £1.2m grant by state-funded body, the Economic and Social Research Council. The research team will develop education and training packages on AI. They will also explore the potential of AI in dispute resolution, the application of AI methods to legal reasoning, and draw comparisons in terms of skills training and technology use between the UK and the US, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Professor John Armour, of Oxford University’s Faculty of Law, who leads the research team, said the research would be ‘innovative and timely’.
‘The project team will draw on relevant expertise from a wide range of disciplines across the University, and we will work together with a number of private sector partners who are also engaging with these issues. It is hugely exciting to be able to work with such an outstanding team.’
