Here are some stats just in from digital transformation company CenturyLink EMEA, which show that 20% of legal consumers would trust an automated robotic service – such as a chatbot – to provide administrative help on a legal case relating to them but just 6% would trust its legal advice.
The survey, conducted by Censuswide, quizzed over 1,200 consumers, finding that those in London would be most comfortable taking automated legal advice (32%), shortly followed by individuals in the South East (22%) and Scotland (22%).
Almost a fifth (19%) of people questioned would trust a robot to manage and speed up the process of their case (for example, to schedule meetings and remind them of key dates). Speed was of particular importance to those between the ages of 16 and 34 (29%), while only 16% of 45+ year olds seemed to place importance on how fast a service is.
A further 15% of those questioned would trust an automated service to send and manage relevant documents for their case, such as passport scans or proof of address documents, and a fairly low 14% would trust automated services to advise them on which law firm would be best for their case.
However, the research also revealed that only one in 20 (6%) would take actionable advice from a robot, thereby removing the need for a human lawyer.
Steve Harrison, regional sales director of legal services CenturyLink EMEA, commented: “When it comes to the use of robots in the legal sector, consumers have been loud and clear. While there is room for the use of AI and chatbot-led practices, human input should still lead the way. However, the legal sector still has much work to do to improve the overall customer experience, shaking up traditional paper-reliant working models and helping ease workloads.”
For us, it’s all about the robot pic. We fancy him giving a bit of family law advice.
