Artificial Intelligence in Legal Proceedings: What Changes Are Planned?

Artificial intelligence is planned to be used in the judicial system as an auxiliary tool. Its implementation should improve access to justice, simplify document processing, and reduce the workload of judges and court staff. However, AI is not intended to replace judges: procedural decisions and responsibility for them should remain with humans.

What tasks can AI perform?

It is expected that artificial intelligence technologies will be used at various stages of legal proceedings, including in the preparation of case materials and the drafting of procedural documents.

The main areas of use include:

• Receipt and initial processing of documents. The system will be able to check the completeness of submitted materials, identify potential deficiencies, and categorize documents accordingly.
• Analysis of judicial practice. AI will be able to compare case circumstances with previously adopted judicial decisions and demonstrate probable resolution options for typical disputes.
• Review of draft court decisions. The technology should alert the judge when the draft significantly deviates from established judicial practice.
• Transcription of court hearings. This involves the automatic conversion of oral speech into text, as well as the preparation of draft court minutes.
• Preparing draft judicial decisions. AI can be used to generate draft decisions and other documents, which must then be reviewed and approved by an authorized person.

Thus, the main purpose of the technology is to automate repetitive operations and provide the judge with additional analytical information.

Requirements for the use of artificial intelligence

The planned implementation of AI is accompanied by a number of requirements aimed at ensuring the transparency of the judicial process and protecting the procedural rights of its participants.

In particular, the following provisions are provided:

• Disclosure of AI Use. When submitting documents, you may be required to indicate whether artificial intelligence technologies were used in their preparation.
• Verifying legal references. References to regulations and other legal sources used in documents must be verified for accuracy.
• Informing case participants. Parties should be able to learn whether AI was used in the preparation of relevant materials or court documents.
• The ability to challenge the system’s conclusions. Participants in the process will be given the right to question the AI’s findings and demand their verification.
• Limitations on analytics related to judges. Personalized analysis of the performance of specific judges is not permitted. When preparing analytical materials, data on judges will be anonymized.

Maintaining the possibility of human oversight is of particular importance. The results of artificial intelligence should not automatically replace the court’s procedural assessment or limit the right of participants to protect their interests.

Implementation timeframes

The technology implementation is planned to be carried out in stages according to the established schedule. The main activities are expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2027.

In the future, it is planned to expand the use of AI:

• implementation of relevant services into various judicial processes;
• gradual increase in the number of judges using digital tools;
• achieving the target of regular use of AI by more than 95% of judges by 2030.

The specific results of implementation will depend on the readiness of information systems, the quality of the data used, and the procedure for monitoring the operation of algorithms.

What this could mean for litigants

The increased use of AI may impact not only the internal organization of court work, but also the actions of representatives and participants in the proceedings.

In practical terms, it may be necessary to:

• more carefully check the completeness of documents before sending them to court;
• control the correctness of the specified regulatory acts and judicial references;
• take into account the possibility of automatic primary processing of submitted materials;
• check the content of documents prepared using AI;
• find out whether automated tools were used in the preparation of relevant materials or draft judicial acts;
• use the provided procedural mechanisms to challenge erroneous conclusions.

At the same time, the use of AI in itself should not relieve participants in the process from the obligation to substantiate their position and present the necessary evidence.

Possible issues and risks

The introduction of artificial intelligence into legal proceedings will require additional regulation of a number of practical issues. These include:

• Ensuring the confidentiality of court materials;
• protection of personal data of participants in the process;
• determination of responsibility for algorithm errors;
• the procedure for checking and correcting automatically generated documents;
• delimitation of powers between the court and the information system used;
• the ability to appeal decisions and actions in the preparation of which AI was used.

A crucial prerequisite for the effective use of technology remains mandatory human verification of the obtained results. Artificial intelligence can speed up information processing and document preparation, but the final legal assessment must be based on the specific case materials and legal requirements.

The planned implementation of AI is primarily aimed at automating technical and analytical operations in the judicial system. For parties to disputes, this could mean changes to the document preparation process, increased requirements for their completeness and accuracy, and the emergence of new ways to monitor the use of digital tools.

At the same time, the key principles must remain the transparency of the use of AI, the ability to verify its conclusions, and the preservation of judge responsibility for the procedural decisions made.