Par Maryam Akhlaghi
AI and Access to Justice: An NCSC Initiative
The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) is a nonprofit organization that works to enhance judicial efficiency, accessibility, and fairness in the United States. As part of its mission to modernize court systems, the NCSC has launched several initiatives exploring the role of artificial intelligence in justice.
On January 29, 2024, the NCSC, in collaboration with the TRI AI Policy Consortium, organized a webinar titled "Beagle Plus and AVA: AI as a Gateway to Justice." This event brought together legal experts, AI developers, and judicial professionals to discuss how AI-powered legal chatbots can assist self-represented litigants. The discussion highlighted two key AI-driven legal tools—Beagle Plus (British Columbia) and AVA (Alaska)—which aim to bridge accessibility gaps in the legal system.
This article provides an overview of the key insights shared during the webinar, illustrating how AI can serve as a practical tool for improving access to justice.
Resources from the presentation available here
Photo credit: https://www.wowcx.com/blog/3-claves-de-un-chatbot-de-whatsapp-efectivo-que
Addressing the Justice Gap Through AI
Legal professionals from the People’s Law School and the Alaska Court System emphasized the growing accessibility gap in legal services. Many individuals face procedural and financial barriers that prevent them from obtaining legal representation. AI-powered chatbots, such as Beagle Plus in British Columbia and AVA in Alaska, aim to provide instant, reliable, and jurisdiction-specific legal guidance to those navigating the justice system alone.
Beagle Plus: AI Legal Assistance in British Columbia
The People’s Law School, in collaboration with Tango Work Software, developed Beagle Plus, an AI chatbot designed to assist British Columbians in understanding their legal rights. Integrated into the organization’s website and Facebook page, Beagle Plus utilizes a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) model, refreshing its legal knowledge daily to ensure up-to-date responses.
Since its deployment in February 2024, Beagle Plus has interacted with over 6,000 users, with 79% of respondentsreporting that they found the tool helpful. Its strength lies in its ability to provide structured, jurisdiction-specific legal responses, guiding users toward relevant legal resources without overstepping into legal advice.
Continuous Refinement and Enhanced Accuracy
The development of Beagle Plus involved iterative testing to improve accuracy. Initially, trials with GPT-3.5 produced an accuracy rate of 70%, which increased to 90% with GPT-4 and
reached 99% after fine-tuning the RAG system, filtering responses, and integrating legal oversight. One of the major challenges encountered was misconceptions in legal interpretation. For example, the chatbot originally reinforced the false belief that “private car sales are always final”, a common but inaccurate assumption in British Columbia law.
By refining its data retrieval mechanisms and incorporating manual legal oversight, Beagle Plus significantly improved response accuracy and relevance. The chatbot is now regarded as an essential first point of contact for legal inquiries in the province.
AVA: A Tailored AI Solution for the Alaska Court System
Unlike Beagle Plus, AVA (Alaska Virtual Assistant), developed by the Alaska Court System in collaboration with LawDroid, takes a structured knowledge base approach rather than relying on continuous content scraping. The Alaska legal team meticulously extracted FAQs from legal documentation, transforming them into structured question-answer pairs to ensure accuracy.
During initial testing with 91 legal queries, AVA’s developers identified AI hallucinations, where the chatbot inferred incorrect legal principles. To prevent misinformation, the team pre-vetted all referenced materials, ensuring that AVA provides only legally reliable responses.
One of AVA’s unique features is its interactive legal guidance system. Unlike traditional AI chatbots, which generate fixed responses, AVA asks clarifying questions. For instance, when a user inquires, “Do I need to go to court?”, AVA guides the conversation by requesting additional details on probate type, estate value, and required documentation, ensuring users receive tailored legal pathways.
Challenges and Lessons Learned
Both Beagle Plus and AVA demonstrate the potential and limitations of AI-driven legal assistance:
- Ensuring accuracy: Developers manually reviewed chatbot responses, refining prompts and limiting AI outputs toverified legal content.
- Accessibility and readability: Responses are structured at asixth-grade reading level, making legal guidance more comprehensible.
- Language barriers: AI models struggle with Indigenous and lesser-spoken languages due to insufficient legal datasets.
- Technical and financial sustainability: While Beagle Plus operates on alow-cost model (<$200 per month), AVA’s approach requires higher manual labor investment for knowledge base maintenance.
Future Developments in AI Legal Assistance
Both chatbots are evolving with new AI capabilities:
AI-assisted form completion: Beagle Plus and AVA plan to integrate automated form-filling tools, reducing errors and improving efficiency.
- Real-time monitoring: AI platforms like LangFuse will be used to track chatbot accuracy and flag inconsistencies automatically.
- Expanded multilingual capabilities: Efforts are underway to improve AI’s ability to interpret legal terminology accurately across multiple languages.
Conclusion: AI as a Gateway to Justice
AI-powered legal chatbots are redefining access to justice, transforming how self-represented litigants engage with the legal system. While challenges remain, these tools are proving instrumental in breaking down barriers, offering structured guidance, and ensuring that legal information is accessible to all. As AI technology advances, its role in enhancing court efficiency and public legal education will only continue to grow.
For those interested in exploring these tools further, the full webinar recording and additional resources are available here:
📌 Box Link 1
📌 Box Link 2
📌 YouTube Session 1
📌 YouTube Session 2
For more details on AI applications in legal assistance, visit:
🌍 NCSC AI Initiative
This content has been updated on 10/29/2025 at 15 h 37 min.