Equalizing Justice: Harnessing AI for Litigants Without Lawyers

Millions of individuals worldwide struggle to understand and assert their legal rights without legal representation. Equalizing Justice examines how AI and other technologies can address this access to justice crisis by providing unrepresented litigants with knowledge and skills traditionally available only through lawyers. This volume takes a needs-first approach, identifying tasks that unrepresented litigants must complete and mapping specific technologies to each task, such as generative AI, computational logic, and document automation. The book highlights real-world applications, demonstrating proven impact, and presents case studies and interviews to explore both the potential positive outcomes and potential challenges of AI for access to justice. Equalizing Justice proves that AI technologies offer unprecedented opportunities to create equitable justice systems serving everyone, not just those who can afford representation, and that legal AI assistants should be treated as a public good accessible to all. In honor of Karl Branting, 100% of the royalties from this book will be donated to a nonprofit organization that uses artificial intelligence to expand access to justice.