Judicial analytics on trial: An assessment of legal analytics in judicial systems in light of the right to a fair trial
Author | Peggy Valcke,Vilte Kristina Steponenaite |
DOI | 10.1177/1023263X20981472 |
Published date | 01 December 2020 |
Date | 01 December 2020 |
Article
Judicial analytics on trial: An
assessment of legal analytics in
judicial systems in light of the
right to a fair trial
Vilte Kristina Steponenaite* and Peggy Valcke*
Abstract
This article informs about certain legal analytics tools that can be used to predict the outcome of
cases. It identifies and assesses some challenges to the right to a fair trial that appear in case this
kind of tools are employed by judges and parties in judicial proceedings. Further, the article offers a
reflection on possible strategies to tackle the identified challenges, including the adoption of the
appropriate method to address legal analytics in court procedures, the need for proper training of
judges or certification and auditing schemes.
Keywords
Artificial intelligence, legal analytics, right to a fair trial, adversarial proceedings, equality of arms
Introduction
Several nations are experimenting with,
1
and implementing,
2
digital technologies and in particular
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
3
in their court systems to assist adjudication. Abi and Jeremias
* KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Corresponding author:
Vilte Kristina Steponenaite, KU Leuven Sint-Michielsstraat 6 box 3443 Leuven, 3000 Belgium.
E-mail: vilte.kristina@gmail.com
1. See, for example in ‘OnlineDispute Resolution for Low Value CivilClaims’, England and Wales: CivilJustice Council
(2015), https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Online-Dispute-Resolution-Final-Web-Version1.pdf; see
also R. Susskind, Online courtsand the future of justice (Oxford University Press, 2019); C. Xiao et al., ‘CAIL2019-
SCM: A Dataset of Similar CaseMatching in Legal Domain’ (2019), https://arxiv.org/pdf/1911.08962.pdf.
2. See, for example Civil Resolution Tribunal, https://civilresolutionbc.ca for the Canadian example, or Centraal
Insolventieregister, https://insolventies.rechtspraak.nl/#!/zoeken/index for the online accessibility of all data relating to
Dutch insolvency procedures.
3. The term Artificial Intelligence is commonly used to refer to a set of scientific methods, theories and techniques whose
aim is to reproduce, by a machine, the cognitive abilities of human beings (compare ‘European ethical Charter on the
Maastricht Journal of European and
Comparative Law
2020, Vol. 27(6) 759–773
ªThe Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/1023263X20981472
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