A new firm is using robo-lawyers to increase legal access in NT.

A system called Ailira, or Artificially Intelligent Legal Information Resource Assistant, has been set up in Darwin.

The artificially-intelligent system can help clients with basic legal advice on topics from wills to business structuring and asset protection, or assist tax professionals in tax law research.

It can even generate wills and other legal documents.

Complex AI legal systems are being tested around the world, as firms seek cost savings and advocates try to expand access to legal help.

Recent research at the University of North Carolina School of Law has reviewed the potential threat to the future of human lawyers at large law firms. 

Their paper concluded that if the current level of legal technology was rolled out across the industry, there would be an immediate 13 per cent decline in lawyers’ hours.

But the experts predict that legal tasks like advising clients, writing briefs, negotiating and appearing in court, will be beyond the reach of computerisation for the next few years.

Other research has shown that changes will not come all at once, but have begun already.

Basic document review has already been outsourced or automated at large law firms in the US, with just 4 per cent of lawyers’ time now spent on the task.