Improving Access to Justice with Legal Chatbots

Marc Queudot, Éric Charton and Marie-Jean Meurs
Additional contact information
Marc Queudot: PK-4935, 201 Avenue du President-Kennedy, Université du Québec à Montréal UQAM, Montreal, QC H2X 3Y7, Canada
Éric Charton: 600 Rue De la Gauchetière Ouest, National Bank of Canada, Montréal, QC H3B 4L2, Canada
Marie-Jean Meurs: PK-4935, 201 Avenue du President-Kennedy, Université du Québec à Montréal UQAM, Montreal, QC H2X 3Y7, Canada

Stats, 2020, vol. 3, issue 3, 1-20

Abstract: On average, one in three Canadians will be affected by a legal problem over a three-year period. Unfortunately, whether it is legal representation or legal advice, the very high cost of these services excludes disadvantaged and most vulnerable people, forcing them to represent themselves. For these people, accessing legal information is therefore critical. In this work, we attempt to tackle this problem by embedding legal data in a conversational interface. We introduce two dialog systems (chatbots) created to provide legal information. The first one, based on data from the Government of Canada, deals with immigration issues, while the second one informs bank employees about legal issues related to their job tasks. Both chatbots rely on various representations and classification algorithms, from mature techniques to novel advances in the field. The chatbot dedicated to immigration issues is shared with the research community as an open resource project.

Keywords: chatbot; information retrieval; natural language processing; question answering system; dialog system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C1 C10 C11 C14 C15 C16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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